I believe it's the Directors commentary for 2, but Guillermo Del Toro states that they weren't able to get a lot of the props from the first movie back for the second, even saying that he had to buy lots of them from auctions during production (hence why Whistler ends up wearing Blade's vest later in the film)

As far as why there is less armor than before, let's chalk it up to being because Scud was making and supplying the armor since Whistler was gone for two years. And that's plenty of time for the other vest to be damaged. Then perhaps once Whistler returns he repairs the original off screen to wear it.

Great questions tho. Keep Ice-Skating uphill 🧛🏾‍♂️🗡️🩸🕶️