More Storage Space, are your retainers and your bag full??

[TheVedis]

No, we just realize that FFXIV would handle the situation like every other game in existence - if you don't have room in your inventory, the item can't be unequipped.

so we either get people complaining that it takes up a space in their inventory
or we get people complaining that they cant equip stuff cuz they dont have room in their inventory

[Tamlin]

so we either get people complaining that it takes up a space in their inventory
or we get people complaining that they cant equip stuff cuz they dont have room in their inventory

Ehm, reckon you ment unequip here?
Nevertheless: Equiping one piece of gear over another would cause the two items to switch places, so basically one would go in and one would go out of the inventory. The amount of time people spend all stripped down is (or at least should be) closer to zero, as you most of the time swap gear instead of taking of the gear.

And it wouldn't be different than trying to get new items into your own or the retainers inventory when/if the inventory is full.
And if you want to undress, then you just have to make sure that you have room in your inventory to do so.

This solution would demand that you would be able to repair your own gear while wearing it.

There is not such a big trick to it, a lot of other games manage to handle this rather well - everything from good old RPGs, WoW, AoC etc., and you don't see the users complain there, they are just happy that their equipped gear does not fill up their inventory.

So no; it's not a problem, and yes; I figured this could seem stupid to a few people as they would think of as a problem.

Another solution could be to solve it like "Dragon Age: Origins": One tab for armor, one for weapon, one for accessories and one for items. This would nevertheless create a lot more tabs, and would not be too userfriendly in the end.
On an overal, this would free aprox 12 slots in your inventory