I think a rather quick and effective way to improve the clothing/armor system would be to:
1. Remove the Armor ratings on any items assigned to Head, Upper Body, and Lower Body
2. Repurpose Special to 'Armor' that would serve as a body armor sloth that provides the defense buff and armor rating
3. Assign Street Creed to clothing as a supplement.
This would give players full customization option to dress up characters however they want without worrying about armor, and it would give players an incentive to dress their character better since better clothing could add higher street cred.
1. Remove the Armor ratings on any items assigned to Head, Upper Body, and Lower Body
2. Repurpose Special to 'Armor' that would serve as a body armor sloth that provides the defense buff and armor rating
3. Assign Street Creed to clothing as a supplement.
This would give players full customization option to dress up characters however they want without worrying about armor, and it would give players an incentive to dress their character better since better clothing could add higher street cred.