There seems to be a bit of a disconnect between weapon shop equipment and personal inventories. What I mean is that they hav similarities in concepts. There are combat type items or other wareable items in peoples inventory that are more md connected than some weapon shop items. Perhaps if when a medusa helment is worn it shows up in the wearable section on personal inventory chest. And if some one has a cloak in their personal inventory there is the option to wear it and having similar stats as to what is out there currently. 

 

With this there could be armor sets that are more alliance/group based.

 

Like Necro Nomads cloaks or wooden armor for the woodcutters.

x amount of lumber = wooden helmet

 

x amount of cotton cloth = cloak

 

these items created or moved over from the weapon shop could be nontrasferable

you could elaborate this idea and allow citizen to create their own land tabards that can be equipped if they want to

x cotton + y branches(any resource of the land) = tabard of LR for example