On Wednesday, February 17, 2021 at 10:19:21 PM UTC-7, Bret Hess wrote:
"Would they touch a 40-year-old 'chute (that is in great shape)?"
Tests show no change in strength for parachutes stored out of sunlight for 30 years. See https://ntrl.ntis.gov/NTRL/dashboard...5009576.xhtml# (can download from there).

And, touching that summary up for weird characters:

"Mechanical property and dimensional data from a 29-
year-old nylon parachute revealed no strength loss,
shrinkage or other evidence of degradation. This data
supports previous estimates of storage life degradation
that indicate minimal strength loss for parachutes
stored 25-30 years. Fourteen-year data on nylon and
Kevlar fabrics stored in four different climatic zones
also show no evidence of material degradation."