Alternative ways to upgrade gear

There should be alternative ways to upgrade gear other than just netherite. 

There are two ways I can think of doing this. The first would be to add a new material to the game that could be combined with other resources to make an alternative to netherite. Instead of boosting durability and knockback stats, this material would boost enchantment strength. This would create two branching paths for players when upgrading gear, where they could choose to boost the mechanical values of their gear with netherite, or they could boost the magical values of their gear with this new material. 

The other way I could think of doing this is with unique items that could be applied to gear that would enhance specific aspects of the gear sort of like enchantments. Something like a shulker box could be applied to diamond chestplates to give an extra row of inventory slots. Something could be applied to diamond boots or leggings to give extra movement speed, or extra jump height to the player. The telescope could be applied to the helmet to allow the player to zoom in. Or perhaps something else could be added to the helmet to enhance saturation from food. Whatever the possibility of these upgrades may be, they should add functionality to the game. Theres already examples of this with gold helmets for piglins and leather boots for powdered snow.

There shouldnt be one peice of gear that is better than all the others in the end game, there needs to be more diversity.