[nickff]

SOLVED thanks to this post - http://forum.x-cart.com/showthread.php?p=320214#post320214

Here's how I did it:

In subcategories.tpl:

{include file="customer/main/subcategories_dropdown.tpl"}

In subcategories_dropdown.tpl:

{php}
        $t = $this->get_template_vars('cat'); 
        
        $result=mysql_query("select * from xcart_categories where categoryid=$t");
        while($row=mysql_fetch_array($result))
        {
            $cid=$row['categoryid'];
            $pid=$row['parentid'];
            $cat=$row['category'];
        }
     {/php}
     <select name="mySelect" class="gender-select"  onchange="if(this.options[this.selectedIndex].value !=  '')window.top.location.href=this.options[this.selectedIndex].value">
         <option value="Select A Gender">mens/womens/youth</option>
         {php}
            
            if($pid==0){
            $res=mysql_query("select * from xcart_categories where parentid=$t");
            while($row1=mysql_fetch_array($res))
            {
            $cat12=$row1['category'];
            $cid12=$row1['categoryid'];
            
         {/php}
         <option value="home.php?cat={php}echo $cid12; {/php}">{php}echo $cat12;{/php}</option>
         {php}
            }
            }else {
            $res=mysql_query("select * from xcart_categories where parentid=$pid");
            while($row1=mysql_fetch_array($res))
            {
            $cat12=$row1['category'];
            $cid12=$row1['categoryid'];
         {/php}
         <option value="home.php?cat={php}echo $cid12; {/php}">{php}echo $cat12;{/php}</option>
         {php}
            }
            
            }
        {/php}
    </select>

Works perfectly!