Urgh, I hated them things. Had to wear them in certain households and they just disintegrate after 2 minutes over my steel toecap boots. I wouldn't mind, but they were usually the type of houses where you wipe your feet on the way out.
This story reminded me of a situation where I thought "I'm glad I was wearing underwear". I was working in a house and just knelt down to fit a skirting board and my trousers ripped completely in half down both legs. How it happened I will never know. One minute I had trousers on, the next I was in just my boxers, with my trousers hanging on my waist by my belt. With a startled family staring in shock. I superglued them back together as I was miles from home and it worked amazingly well.