[Sten]

Perhaps one could blend the leather/studded/hide options together just as they blend together banded/half/full plate along with scale/chain etc.

That's silly. WHy would you want to replace the metal textures with leather textures?

I think you are misunderstanding Dremora there, he means that they should make it so that all the leather models are interchangeable on the different types of light armor, much like it is with the heavy armor and medium armor models.