I have been attacked by several Bandit Chiefs in Skyrim now (i.e. not Solstheim) and they all seem to be wearing Carved Nordic Armor. I suppose that is OK as far as it goes. But I do hope at least some of them will continue to wear Steel Plate. For my female followers I think Steel Plate looks better than Carved Nordic. I would hate to give up a steady supply of free Steel Plate Armor.

Craft it yourself. It's just 3 perks into smithing.

2 perks

Been showing up for me as of today.

I actually had a reaver lord wearing steel plate on solstheim just now, i think it got added to the general loot list.

If the OP doesn't have any perks in smithing, it's 3: Steel, Elven, Advanced

Did you even read his post? He is talking about their appearance on bandits, which is completely independent of his smithing perks

He was talking about whether or not steel plate will continue to show up as random loot from enemies. To try and cull that concern, others responded with the suggestion that the OP craft the steel plate himself, which requires 3 smithing perks. Ta da!

Well this escalated quickly...

I assumed he meant aesthetically he didn't like the look of the armor on the bandits my bad

I've been getting plenty of steel plate although recently I've been running into more and more bandits wearing carved nordic. I think it's just a level difference seeing as how I'm over level 30 now and starting to see much better loot.
As for right now I'm still getting a good mix of steel plate and nordic. Will let you know if anything changes.