title: How can I customize Magento's checkout cart item template by category?
body: <p>I am working on a Magento module that requires one category of products to render a different checkout cart item than the others. </p>
  
  <p><strong>The Question:</strong>
  Is there a way to change, just for one product category, which template gets used in the checkout process for the cart item?</p>
  
  <p><strong>Things I've tried:</strong></p>
  
  <ul>
  <li>I've unsuccessfully searched for a pre render hook. My thought was I
  might be able to inject the template based on the category.</li>
  <li>After setting the category and product design options to my template,
  the products still render with the system default template.</li>
  </ul>
  
  <p><strong>For example:</strong>
  For all products in category Default, use template:
  app/design/frontend/base/default/template/checkout/cart/item/default.phtml</p>
  
  <p>For products in category CustomCart, use template:
  app/design/frontend/default/customcart/template/checkout/cart/item/default.phtml</p>