Possible to mend, or should I make chaps?

Hi! I have these faux leather pants that have started to have visible wear on the butt from a car seat. I thrifted them originally to make chaps for a country festival, but liked the look of them and honestly felt bad about cutting up perfectly good pants. Ive avoided using them for sweaty activities, and have aired them instead of washing. Still, after a recent car drive theyve started to flake from the butt area.

Material is 100% polyurethrane.

Is this salvageable or worth trying to fix to prolong the life as pants? Or is it time to put this in my ever-growing "for longer sewing-project"-pile to eventually be made into chaps? The chaps would be used rarely, for festival and concerts only, so thats why I dont want to cut into the pants if they still can be fixed. Imo its downcycling rather than upcycling

Ive posted this to mending as well, but was hoping for a more ethical perspective on here