Sorry , but why would this skin need to be better armor than actual armor? How is it that armor made from beasts out in the wild, made by someone has better protection than what people can make in the industry who have been researching said industry for 75 years ? I mean , we dumped leather armor as an alternative to kevlar (and fullplate) about 500 years ago.
Could this not just be a fashion statement like most of the animal skins worn current day?
You have your fake dune dragon / rad scorpion / park dog piece of clothing , made from the normal pieces of material. And the real dune dragon skin piece of clothing , made from real dune dragon. It should show in the increase of value of said piece of clothing. Just like you have fake fox fur and fake mink in real life.
And it should be all the rage in gold. Its something that is unusual , pretty darn expensive to get and something had to die a bloody death before you could wear it. preferably those 2 mixers you sent out to get that skin and the dune dragon in question. Hell , Juicy needs at least 2 of these to make it seem even more legit that he killed them himselves when he was down in red.
It could provide something to do for at least 4 people. The bitch in gold who wants her dune dragon something. The designer/tailor from gold who gets to make the dune dragon something. fixer who has to go down to red to get together at least a few people with half a brain, because like hell anybody from gold will bother asking something from someone in red, they handle real money for christs sake!. The few chummers that actually get stuck with the job of killing the beast on top of the guy that has survival experience and knows how to survive and skin the beast.
For added fun, consider making the skin contraband or make players pay in import fee (BRIBE) when bringing the skin back to the city. It might not be contraband, but i doubt anybody who has bothered smuggling an crocodile skin through customs had an easy time.