The old adage comes to mind here: You get what you pay for.
The jeans come with knee and hip armour, which is kept in place by little mesh pockets. In the hip pockets, this mesh started to rip on the very first wearing. Each time I take the hip armour out, for the sake of washing the jeans, the mesh rips a little more. And the hip armour itself is not exactly confidence building –– just a half-centimetre-thick bit of padding that one might find on a child’s backpack.
The knee armour is a little more substantial but not so much that I would be willing to drop to my knees from a standing position. Also, the knee pads slip around a lot in their mesh pocket. I find that I am always adjusting them as I ride. I seriously wonder what, if any, good they would be if I came off the bike. The only reason I bother to put them in is that they provide a nice bit of padding between my knees and the tank.
As I said, I wouldn’t trust the Kevlar lining much more than I’d trust a pair of long underwear. Additionally, I find it annoying that the Kevlar lining is only partial, covering the butt and knees, but not anything below the knees and not the crotch. The crotch, yo. That’s a really important spot. You don’t want road rash there.
Lastly, the quality of the denim is sub par. This is the sort of stuff you get at Walmart/Asda with pocket money. And it is about as fashionable as your granddad. No, that’s not true. My 89-year-old grandfather has more style than to be caught wearing these things.
Overall, I chalk this up to learning experience. I have learned, again, that really cheap things are very rarely good things. I bought a pair of £30 Kevlar jeans and, surprise surprise, they didn’t live up to the expectations I might have for a pair of £200 Kevlar jeans. I am actively searching for a better alternative.