i just ran a basic skirt with pleats through the cloth sim in 7pro with no issues except that it was too simple to deform correctly

in blender i started with a 16 point circle and deleted all but 1/4 of it and then added the mirror modifier to make modeling easier

i then copied it and deleted all but 1 edge on the copy and then multi subdivided that and moved the verts to make the exterior of the pleats

again multi subdivide to make the interior of the pleats

then subdivide again to keep the edges from washing out when smoothed

extrude to desired length and add several loops for deforming

export and import and add the controls