Ideal (for me): I agree with having an equipment tab independent of the inventory tab for players and retainers. Inventory tab retains its 100 slots. Equipment tab may have 50+ or so slots.

Alternate: Equipped items do not count toward inventory space. This could potentially save us 12 or more spaces depending on our class.

Longer story/the lore of my inventory/tldr part:
Reached a similar plateau around December. But I agree with having an equipment inventory tab and having the generic inventory tab or
at the very least, equipped items do not take up space (carrying accessories sufficient for two classes hurts)

I made the decision that I would try to consolidate my equipment as much as I could, narrow my focused classes, and considered the dangers of gathering classes to my inventory.

Threw my gathering tools with their secondaries onto the retainer if they were higher than rank 1.
Altered my gear to match the classes I would play the most: tabards, tights, halfgloves, etc.
Removed weapons and tools of classes I would not focus on.
I also adventure in one region instead of all three, so that my loot drops aren't as diverse.
And I'm not pursing the culinary arts.

To counter all the space I saved, I still have all the repair mats I need to fix any of the gear on me. And small improvements such as moving from a hempen item to cotton (so I can stash hempen fent) or migrating from sheep leather to dodo leathers, when and where applicable (to stash sheep leather spetch).

Gathering career ended quickly with the current inventory system and my own desires for it. The diversity of items I received as a miner, but mostly a botanist, seemed overmuch with the HQ items available.

As it stands now, I have 11 primary tools, 1 secondary item, 11 pieces of gear, and 4 accessories for a total of 27 items constantly in my inventory with no end in sight. As I'll be exchanging items out and upgrading as needed. If anything, as I reach higher ranks, classes and accessories will get more specialized gear.

But as the gatherer, there were six extra tools, only had three types of bait, and 3 pieces of gear that were more gathering oriented. Which I imagine more people have so 12 slots or so down.

I'm on a tangent and going nowhere, not making sense anymore even to myself, I'm going to stop, eheheh.

*high fives a hallucination of a sylph, misses, and falls off a cliff in La Noscea*