Yes and it's covered. There is far more involved in the churning economy of war than just what we wear on our body.
Perma-break exists on a great many things in the game that will need to be replaced time and again....
just not the players primary gear.
That's is the problem. Peeps just wanna pew-pew with no worries at all and then suddently they say - there nothing left to do here, I quit. *jackie chan face*
Remember guys. Ember will feature horizontal progression. There is no "Top notch" stuff. Progression is about unlocking more options, not inherently better ones.
But as I explained earlier in the thread: Gear will take damage and need resources repair but will not perma-break. However there will be various other things such as buildings and assorted call downs that can and will be destroyed that will serve as the thing that needs to be built and rebuilt indefinitely.