Is it possible to unequip a piece of Gear?

I found some Gear, but when given the option to either take it or equip it, I pressed buttons too quickly and equipped it right after examining it.

Now I have some Gear on me that I don't want to use (Fire Bird, for the curious — and I do see the irony in not wanting fire-based Gear here) but there doesn't appear to be a way to unequip it and remove its effects. In another slot I'm able to switch one piece of Gear for another, but it seems once I find some Gear for a particular slot I have to have something equipped in that slot at all times. Is that true, or is there some obscure way I can unequip Gear until I find more later?

Solution 1:

You can't unequip item from its slot,once you pick up your first item you will have to have something equipped in that slot constantly through the game.Which sucks if your first item has negative effects.

However items are random and frequent and mostly don't have negative effects,so you will sooner or later get something to replace it; using the menu(by pressing o).

And then there is also the choice of not picking up any items,so you can finish the game without any items equipped...Not sure why would anyone want to do this but...