While jorb does not make an armor repairing mechanic, make it so whenever an armor piece breaks (drops to 0 HP) it drops a curio of quality equal to the damaged armor's Q, the curio being as big as the equipped armor and giving some LP. Obviously, such curios would not be as effective as using the materials themselves on dedicated curios. So for example:
Leather Ball (Q10)
4k LP
~44h
Mental W 6
EXP Cost 5
4x Leather, 4x String
is a dedicated leather curio. Leather Boots, which costs 2x Leather and 1x String, would yield "Ripped Leather Boots" when dropped to 0 HP, a curio with the following stats:
Ripped Leather Boots (Q10)
2.5k LP
30h
Mental W 10
EXP Cost 5
So ripping boots off would only give marginal better LP, but would take drastically longer to complete and have more mental weight. Obviously, no one would want their high Q armor destroyed, but if a player manages to make a better one, it makes sense to use the old one until it breaks, so it gives a curio back for additional LP.