Quote Originally Posted by Conradus View Post
I expect that any dated gear in existence will not be tampered with. You already can't obtain them from as rewards or from vendor NPCs (except for dated accessories, because their replacements haven't been fielded yet). In the coming months, the synthesis recipes for them will be retired and crafters won't be able to make them any more either (you already can't get any new materials for the old-fashioned dyes required to make a lot of them). At that point the dated items will slowly disappear as they are converted to materia, sold to NPCs, or their owners quit the game.
Correct me if I'm wrong but I do believe Yoshi-P said dated gear will eventually be phased out.