Minecraft's next major update 1.20 is coming out very soon, with a lot of new features added to the game. Amongst them, armor customization is probably one of the most notable. With Minecraft 1.20, players will be able to color, design and add patterns/trimmings to their armor in a lot of unique ways.

With the right method and materials, players would be able to get their own unique look. In this article, Gurugamer is going to showcase how to customize armor in Minecraft 1.20.

Minecraft armor sets with multiple trimmings

Note: Currently, the Armor Trim Smithing Templates are only a beta feature in Minecraft 1.20 Snapshot 23W04A. It could undergo some changes in the final release.

1. About armor customization

The customization process changes the armor's physical appearance, color, and design. However, it does not affect the armor's ability. There are 2 main methods of customizing armors in Minecraft 1.20:

  • Trimming: Using a Smithing table, players can add various patterns on top of their base armor. Unlike dying, the color of the entire armor is unchanged - trimming only adds an overlay design. Additionally, this feature can be applied to all types of armor, except leather.
  • Coloring: Players can dye their armor in one of the sixteen dye colors in Minecraft. This feature is exclusive to leather armor.

These new decorations would definitely supplement Minecraft's enchantment system, which adds a subtle purple glint to the item.

2. How to add trimmings to Minecraft armor

At the moment there are eleven unique armor trims in Minecraft. Each of them can be painted with 9 different colors, and since there are 5 armor materials in the game, players can create over 400k unique combinations.

Minecraft all armor trims.

Firstly, you will need to collect armor trim smithing templates in the game. They spawn throughout the world of Minecraft inside the treasure chest of various in-game structures. While most of those structures are in the overworld, the Nether and the End also have some unique armor trimmings. To get these items, players should check out Gurugamer's dedicated guide for all armor trim locations in Minecraft.

Preparations

You need the following items to trim and customize your armor in Minecraft 1.20:

  • Smithing Table
  • Pieces of Armor (Helmet, chest plate, leggings, and boots)
  • 4 Armor Trims (1 for each piece of armor)
  • Color Materials. You can use several different materials, including iron, copper, gold, lapis lazuli, emerald, diamond, netherite, redstone, amethyst, and quartz. Just make sure your armor is not made of the same material that you are using to color its trim, which would make the trimmings blend into the armor.

How to add trimmings to armor

Place a smithing table then use it. Place the armor trim smithing template into the leftmost cell, the armor you want to customize in the middle cell and a piece of color material in the third cell.

Adding armor trimmings

3. How to dye leather armor in Minecraft

Unlike other types of armor in Minecraft, leather armor can be dyed with any color. This gives players the ability to go around in colorful outfits instead of just the old boring diamond armor. Leather horse armor can also be dyed the same way.

Leather armor is not as strong as the higher-tier armors but they are more customizable.

The armor dyeing methods in Java and Bedrock are different:

  • Java Edition players can just put the item and the dye of the chosen color into the crafting grid.
  • Bedrock players need to fill a water cauldron with the dye color they want, then use the leather armor on the cauldron's water to dye it.

4. How to make colored dyes

These are 16 colors of dyes in Minecraft and their ingredients. For example, you can make white dye in Minecraft by adding bone and lily of the valley to the Crafting table.

  • Red - beetroot, roses, poppies, red tulips
  • Green - cactus
  • Light grey - azure bluet, white tulips, oxeye daisies
  • Pink - pink tulips, peonies
  • Lime green - sea pickles (Use a Potion of Water Breathing to gather in the sea)
  • Yellow - dandelions, sunflowers
  • Light blue - blue orchids
  • Magenta - alliums, lilacs
  • Orange - orange tulips
  • Blue - lapis lazuli, cornflower
  • Brown - cocoa beans
  • Black - ink sacs, wither roses
  • White - bone meal, lily of the valley
You can collect different materials to make dyes, then combine dyes to make new colors.

You can also create new colors by combining other colors of dyes:

  • Purple - red dye and blue dye
  • Cyan - green dye and  blue dye
  • Light grey - black dye and 2 white dyes, or grey dye and white dye
  • Grey - white dye and black dye
  • Pink - red dye and white dye
  • Lime green - green dye and white dye
  • Light blue - blue dye and white dye
  • Magenta - pink dye and purple dye, blue dye and white dye and red dye, blue dye and 2 red dyes and white dye
  • Orange - red dye and yellow dye

>>> Read more: How To Find Villages In Minecraft 1.19