Like many Australian fashion girlies, I’ve been a fan of playful maximalist Keely Bradley—or Keelz, as she’s known on TikTok and Instagram—for years. Aside from her expert-level colour combinations and layering skills, it’s her love for secondhand fashion that makes her stand out in a sea of fashion creators peddling overconsumption and poorly made fast fashion. Thrifting, she tells me, is in her veins.
“My mum used to dress me in vintage things… all of the outfits I wore she used to make or they were thrifted from the op shop. I can remember being so young and going thrifting with her. If I wanted to buy something, I'd have to go look in an op shop first and try and find it there. I think I’ve sort of just brought that ethos into what I do now,” she explains.
Vinnies has long been a go-to for Bradley, and now that it has launched its online destination, Vinnies Finds, the magic of thrifting and securing unique pieces she can’t find anywhere else is more accessible than ever before. As someone who often has to spend days at home as a result of her chronic illness, accessibility is particularly important. She tells me being able to scour through Vinnies Finds’ curated digital treasure trove filled from the comfort of her couch has been a game-changer.
“Being chronically ill, I do most of my thrifting and secondhand shopping online these days. It's a lot more accessible for me. I do love going to an op shop and going through the racks, but you know, it’s tiring. So I love spending my time on my phone just trying to find a piece that I love.”
Thrifting Queen And Disability Advocate: How Keely Bradley’s Love Of Secondhand Fashion Has Coloured Her Life
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by Cait Emma Burke
3 June 2025
But what started as a digital outfit archive has evolved into a platform where she also raises awareness for invisible disabilities and chronic illnesses. This includes the ones she lives with - Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (more commonly known as POTS) and autoimmune diseases, Ulcerative Colitis and Psoriatic Arthritis
It’s a misunderstood condition and can cause a wide range of symptoms, from dizziness and a fast heart rate to fainting, fatigue, and chronic pain. So, how does being chronically ill shape her style?
I think being chronically ill, my style and what I want from it have changed so much. Comfy and cute is what I've sort of been trying to strive for more recently.
To help you on your journey to elevating your fit checks and shopping sustainably like Bradley, visit Vinnies Finds here.
This article is sponsored by Vinnies Finds and proudly endorsed by The Urban List. To find out more about who we work with and why read our editorial policy here.
Call it a parasocial relationship or just women’s intuition, but occasionally I get a strong inkling that I’d get along with someone I follow online. Fashion icon and content creator Keely Bradley has always been one of those people. So when our paths crossed to chat all things thrifting, a topic we both know and love, I knew I was in for a chat that corresponds to those late-night conversations with your lifelong girls. And that it was.
Over the years, she’s found countless incredible secondhand pieces, so many that she and her partner have turned an entire bedroom in their home into a shared walk-in wardrobe. My curiosity getting the better of me, I asked how a couple with such an abundance of enviable secondhand finds organise their wardrobe. Is it by colour? Category? Theme? Era?
“It's sort of categorised by pieces, like the T-shirts are all together, the pants are all together. I might see an outfit that I like, and I like the colour composition of it or whatever, but I need to pick each piece individually. I see some wardrobes where all the colours are together, and my brain just doesn't work like that,” she explains. As a category over colour girl, I can relate.
When it comes to the find that ignited her passion for secondhand shopping, it was all in the Penny Lane.
I remember I found a vintage Penny Lane jacket, and it had just been brought into this vintage store, and I was like, Wow, this has opened my entire world.
I thrifted before that, but I feel like I didn't understand that spending time looking for good pieces is key.I still treasure the jacket and that moment, even though I've had it so long it's falling apart.”
While she’s always loved the art of curating an outfit and the thrill of thrifting, as it turns out, her posts started more out of practicality. As she honed her thrifting skills and her secondhand collection grew, she needed a way to keep track of everything she owned.
“I started taking photos of the things that I owned because I would always forget. If I can't see them, I don't know what I own. It's nice having an Instagram and a TikTok as my virtual wardrobes, where I can see all my pieces and the different ways I've styled them in one place.”
Of course, we’re both aware that not everyone feels as fondly about secondhand shopping as we do. “I hear people say that it’s ‘old person clothes’ or, you know, it's gross or whatever. But a lot of these pieces at op shops are new. Even if they’re not new, that’s, most of the time, a positive.”
She points to the quality and longevity of clothing made in eras like the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, telling me, “they’ve been loved, but they will last a lifetime for you as well. It just takes one piece to convert someone. I've taken so many friends and they've been like, ‘Wow, I didn't know that I could find this’. Some people do have preconceived ideas that it's donated because it’s bad, or that people are throwing it out. But I give my clothes to thrift stores because I know I don't wear them, but they still need to be loved.”
When asked how she makes sustainable fashion choices in a world that wants us to buy mountains of brand-new, trend-driven clothing, she tells me, it all comes down to consistently opting for secondhand fashion above all else. “If I see something that I want, I usually give myself a week, and I spend hours online scrolling, scrolling, scrolling just trying to find it secondhand. It's just so normal to me that I don't even really think about it too much.”
Bradley’s effortless integration of secondhand fashion into her wardrobe and her well-honed thrifting eye might seem difficult to attain, but with platforms like Vinnies Finds, preloved fashion has become remarkably easy to engage with. It’s providing the thrill of op-shopping minus the downsides. And you know what’s even better than a streamlined secondhand shopping experience? Knowing you saved an incredible piece from the landfill, all while funding vital programs in our community. That’s what I call a sartorial win-win.
Aside from engaging in the circular fashion economy, when you donate to Vinnies and shop at Vinnies Finds, you’re directly supporting an organisation that’s doing good in the wider community, too. Sales on Vinnies Finds go directly to help individuals and families who are facing hardship, including assistance with housing, food, bills and education.
Recognising their important role in our society, Bradley shares that she’s donated her time over the years by volunteering at her local op shops.
I guess I'm giving in a way that feels good to me, which is donating my clothes and time, and knowing that they’re also going to help in other ways.I think just knowing that my love of fashion and homewares is going to help people in some way is a really good feeling.
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Editor’s note: This article is sponsored by a2 Milk™ by Anchor™ and proudly endorsed by The Urban List. To find out more about who we work with and why read our editorial policy here.
To join Wright in recreating nostalgic noms and finding connection through food, pick up a fresh bottle of a2 Milk™ by Anchor™ and some of your favourite Kiwi pantry staples and hit the family kitchen.
by Maisie Gray
19 May 2025
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