Woman finds late mother-in-law’s vintage fur coat at thrift store

A woman’s trip to a second-hand vintage store turned out to be far more sentimental than she could’ve anticipated.

Fashion stylist and vintage collector Gabi Hill captured the poignant moment when a customer realised she’d found a family heirloom. On 3 December, Gabi took to TikTok, posting a carousel of photos with the caption: “Cosmic.”

In the first photo, a female shopper is pictured wearing a brown fur overcoat with patterned lining. “My customer was drawn to this vintage fur the moment she walked into the shop,” Gabi’s on-screen message read.

The next slide exposed a bit of the inside lining of the coat as the woman was caught peering at it. Gabi said the customer had asked her if she knew anything specific about the garment’s origins – and she did. She told the woman that the coat was from the 1960s and there was a monogram of the owner’s name inside of it.

“It was her mother-in-law’s fur coat who passed away years before she met her husband,” Gabi wrote on the following slide. Though the woman’s face was blocked in every image, it was evident she was smiling as she held the coat open to expose the monogram.

The final image showed the customer’s mother-in-law wearing the coat next to her husband. In the old photo, the woman’s relative was seen smiling with a round pair of glasses and red lipstick as the customer’s husband, then a young boy, draped his arm around her.

People were left with chills as they scrolled through to the final slide in Gabi’s post, which has now reached over 3.4 million views. Stunned individuals commented to express their touched hearts and added their theories as to what finding that jacket meant for the customer.

“That’s momma telling her son she loves her daughter-in-law,” one viewer wrote, while another said: “It was her way of bonding with her.”

“Her mother-in-law was talking to her. Whenever you feel drawn to a certain object, think about it for a minute. It could be someone trying to connect with you,” another TikTok user added.

Someone else noted: “These stories keep taking me out at the knees. I have such restored faith in the universe to send us signs we need.”

“Gave me chills! And people say inanimate things can’t carry energy; they totally can,” one viewer proclaimed.

“Incredible. I just saw a story about a boys jean jacket in TN that ended up in Alaska years later and the now wife bought it for their son,” another person added.