When you don't equip the armor first then enchant it the stats won't apply whatsoever even if reforging it again after equipping it. 1.20.1

I am unable to reproduce this issue in any capacity. Items do not experience any change when being equipped, so there is no difference when reforging a previously-equipped item as compared to a fresh item. You might have an additional mod in your instance causing the attribute system to go haywire, but it isn't apoth.