I couldn't believe it when he indicated that it wasn't a compulsory thing for him.
I don't know about now but in the early 90's it wasn't compulsary for jump pilots to wear chutes and they weren't always available for pilot use.
I bought a new surplus RAAF thinback with a 28' lopo canopy from Parachutes Oz for A$850 at that time , also wore it doing aerobatics