I believe they've always been dyeable. The Hempen sets, that is.
And I'd be for unlocking the race-barrier on them. Gender barrier I'd prefer to keep if only to maintain some semblance of uniqueness there. And since when everyone can wear everything--especially when they were designed for specific races and genders off the bat--you get some weirdness. Within-gender works since only Lalafell and male Au Ra aren't standard body types in the game, without-gender lock things can just look odd or bad, aesthetically speaking.
