I had on Draggin jeans when I lowsided at about 55mph. I was impressed by the protection they provided. Here was the only spot on my legs that got hurt. All in all, they are not leather, but did their job.Half gear? ATGATT. Jeans are cotton, even heavy reinforced jeans, are just denim cotton! They shred like tissue paper on pavement. On the hottest of days I'll wear jeans (over) hard shell knee and shin guards. On the coldest of days I wear jeans under my Cortech armored overpants. Otherwise I wear armored leather pants but I ALWAYS wear protection for my knees and legs.