Well...they could be worse.
I don't know how long you've been about this adventuring business, Forename, but did you know that leggings were once no more than strips of cloth or leather? It's true! We used to wrap each leg with a single long strip, from ankle to knee.
Nowadays, of course, designs which extend to the thigh are far more popular. Soft, lightweight leggings like these provide the balance of protection and flexibility demanded by the Wood Wailers, the Gods' Quiver, and adventurers like your good self.
Based on your leggings, I'd say you understood well the importance of these qualities─not to mention the basics of materia melding. Indeed, if I were to judge your performance on a scale of one to ten, I would give you a six─no, a seven.
...The remaining three points, you ask?
Quite simple, really. Your leggings were made from skins, which were taken from living creatures.
The Twelveswood is filled with a wealth of life, which we leatherworkers must take in order to craft our products.
Do you know how that aldgoat lived? How it was killed and skinned? Do you understand how these skins find their way to our hands?
To understand this process is to understand life itself. Those leatherworkers whose creations truly deserve to bear the name of Fen–Yll have faced this burden and accepted it. To them, it's simply truth. Therein lies the difference between the good and the great.
Your leggings are fine, Forename. It is you that needs improvement. Call me an incurable optimist, but I do not think it beyond you.
Study your materials and learn their history. Practice your craft and keep discovering new techniques. That is still your path forward.
And who knows? Mayhap one day I'll allow you to represent the guild in the annual exhibition, and pit your skills against the finest craftsmen in all of Gridania...
Of course, that day─should it ever come─is yet a long way off... Still, it is good to have a goal, however distant, is it not?