Kevlar leggings? Sounds uncomfortable. A mat, however, can be used as needed, like pounce time.

the hospital. She usually sleeps at the foot of my bed since I use the plush blankets.

The kidcats love sleeping on them.

He likes to jump down off the bookshelf and occasionally lands on my sore toes with one of those claws. Fortunately he does not pounce on my stomach it would cause internal damage to me I think. Gryff sounds like a beauty

The cat in question was taken to a veterinarian who anesthetized him and trimmed the claws and put tiny rubber covers over them.

They come in all kinds of fun colors that can make the cat look like it's wearing nail polish. Just Google "nail caps cats" and you'll pull up a ton of examples.

I tried them on Logan (the last cat we had before Willow), and he immediately commenced to chewing them off. I spent the next couple of hours picking tiny bits of the stuff off the floor and the furniture.

I tried once more with the same results, and gave up. I know there are cats that tolerate those just fine, but the only way to tell is to put then on and see what happens.

Fortunately, Logan tolerated having his claws trimmed - grudgingly, but he put up with it. Willows fights the clippers like her life depends on it, and without trimming, her claws are like little needles. Maybe I'll try the claw covers on her one of these days.

I bought a Dremel specially made for trimming the nails of cats and dogs. He's not quite used to it and freaks out because of the motor sound but I manage to get one claw done per attempt. It's safer than clippers because it's less likely to cause bleeding.

He was a lynx, and those claws were dangerous...especially since he was an affectionate beast who didn't know his own strength. I should have named Lenny instead of Panther! Since I do a lot of leather work, I kept a good-sized piece of buffalo hide by my rocker. I'd sit down, spread it on my lap, and he'd pounce like Gryff.
My current cats don't like the mani/pedi procedure, so I hit on a method to subdue them. I put a small, spring loaded clamp on their scruff's sweet spot. This calms the furry brutes down, and they submit to clipping...though they do have rather puzzled expressions during the procedure.

might just alter his mood a bit... never know?

Otherwise a pad of some sort. kevlar probably wouldn't work any better than cotton, but leather or rubber would be ok, even a thin piece.

CBD oil. Give him a little more than usual and he will be sleeping about fifteen minutes later, might be bale to do a trim right after that. He'll wake up in an hour or so and not notice anything. I used it on Mikey when he was too adamant about going outside when it wasn't a good idea.

Smear it on his shoulder so he can't flick it off, he'll have to lick it. about 1/8 tsp or a little less, maybe put it in something fishy, just a taste.

I didn't do it often but when nothing else was going to calm him down...

...when we trim our tuxie female's claws. It's always been an arduous and hazardous undertaking, as she absolutely hates it, and as we all know, cats come armed and dangerous. It didn't get done very often.

We use the style of muzzle shown in the link below. The vet explained that covering the eyes actually helps because when the cats can't see what you're doing, it calms them down.

It's very effective. I can get all 10 front claws trimmed in less time, and with less hassle, than it used to take to get only 3 done before having to give up.

https://www.amazon.com/JorVet-Premium-Cat-Muzzle-Large/dp/B0732PSGSB

or remove mats from her fur, and she completely freaked out. She ran off with it over her eyes, screeching and bumping into furniture and crapping on the floor in terror, and I had a hell of a time catching her and cleaning her up. It took hours for her to calm down and I never tried the muzzle again. YMMV.

...she tolerated it well.

before you try to trim his claws?