Minecraft Custom Armor Texture: Equipment Assets

Written for Minecraft 26.3.

A minecraft custom armor texture needs three things: an equipment asset JSON, two layer images, and an item that points to the asset with the equippable component. All of it works in a normal resource pack, with no shaders.

Before you start

• Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, resource pack format 97.1.

• A resource pack folder. See pack basics if you need one.

• Two PNG files: the body layer and the leggings layer.

Leather colour tricks are legacy. Older packs hid data in leather armour pixels with a core shader. Equipment assets replaced that in 1.21.2 and no shader is needed now.

Create the equipment asset

1. Create assets/example/equipment/ruby.json. The folder is equipment directly under the namespace, as it has been since 1.21.4.

2. List a texture for each layer type you want.

{
  "layers": {
    "humanoid": [
      { "texture": "example:ruby" }
    ],
    "humanoid_leggings": [
      { "texture": "example:ruby" }
    ]
  }
}

humanoid is used for the head, chest and feet. humanoid_leggings is used for the legs. A layer type you leave out does not render on that slot.

Add the textures

A texture ID example:ruby resolves to a path that includes the layer type:

assets/example/textures/entity/equipment/humanoid/ruby.png
assets/example/textures/entity/equipment/humanoid_leggings/ruby.png

Copy a vanilla layer image as a template so the parts land on the right pixels.

Give the armour

Use the equippable component. slot is required. asset_id is the equipment asset file name without .json. Give each piece with its own slot:

/give @s diamond_chestplate[equippable={slot:"chest",asset_id:"example:ruby"}]
/give @s diamond_leggings[equippable={slot:"legs",asset_id:"example:ruby"}]

The inventory icon still uses the base item's model. To change that too, set item_model, for example item_model="example:ruby_chestplate", and add assets/example/items/ruby_chestplate.json. See custom items. The give command builder writes the syntax for you.

Check it worked

• Run both /give commands and wear the pieces.

• Look at yourself in third person (F5). Both layers should show your texture.

• Add a trim with the armor trims guide to confirm it renders on top.

Common problems

Armour looks vanilla

The asset_id does not match the file name, or the namespace is wrong.

Legs are invisible

There is no humanoid_leggings entry, or its image is in the wrong folder.

Pink and black checks

The texture path is wrong. Check the layer folder name and the lower-case file name.

It will not equip

The slot does not match the piece. Use head, chest, legs or feet.