If it was Oasis gear, that was removed when the event ended last year.

Yeah, it sounds like they were wearing the Oasis gear that sold for 1 silver.  That was removed at the end of last year.

If you have characters that  haven't done the main quest yet, you can run them through to get PEN Naru gear to then exchange for Narchillan if you haven't done that quest yet (it's once per family).

Another way to get gear is to make a seasonal character and get them full PEN Tuvala. You get to keep one set of that at the end of the season. Then you can use that for the guaranteed PEN quests from Jetina.