Tyrelle
Kepler Keychains is an Australian safety lifestyle brand I created to design practical products that help women feel more confident and prepared in everyday situations.
I created Kepler after a personal experience that left me feeling unsafe and unprepared. Wanting to create something women would genuinely carry and use every day, I built the brand around combining practical safety tools with approachable design to help redefine how women interact with safety.
The range includes all-in-one Safety Keychains featuring a 130dB personal alarm, Resqme seatbelt cutter, car window breaker pen, and refillable spray bottle pouch, alongside standalone Personal Alarms and the newly launched Kepler Drink Spike Test Kit.
With a strong focus on education and community, Kepler has quickly built a loyal online following and is becoming a growing presence within the Australian gifting and lifestyle retail space.
Hi, I’m Tyrelle, founder of Kepler Keychains. I started Kepler after a moment that completely changed the way I thought about everyday safety. What began as an idea to create something I personally wanted to carry has grown into a brand helping women across Australia feel a little more confident and prepared in their everyday lives.
What inspired the idea for your business?
After a frightening encounter at a local shopping centre, I found myself searching for something that could help me feel safe again. What I discovered was a serious gap in the market for legal safety tools that women could actually carry in Australia. So, I stopped searching… and started creating.
What began as a personal project quickly turned into a mission to create a brand that starts a new conversation around women’s safety in Australia.
Where is the business now? And where is it headed?
The business has grown in ways I never expected. What started as a small idea has become a really engaged community, with women regularly sharing how the products have helped them feel safer and more prepared.
After proven success in e-commerce selling over 10,000 units since launching in October 2024, Kepler is now focused on expanding our wholesale offering with the goal of reaching more women through retail spaces they already shop in every day.
One of my ongoing goals is for Kepler to keep developing unique safety products women genuinely connect with.
How does your brand differentiate itself in the market?
What makes Kepler different is that it was never created as just a product, it was created from a real experience and a genuine desire to help women feel safer in their everyday life. Through storytelling and an approachable design the brand has built a strong emotional connection with its audience.
Kepler redefines how women interact with safety, sitting in a unique space between lifestyle, gifting and a purpose driven product making it a strong fit for modern retail.
Can you share the challenges you’ve encountered and how you’ve navigated them? What have been your key strengths and weaknesses, and what have you learned from them?
One of the biggest challenges has been building something in a space that’s quite sensitive. Safety isn’t a typical product category, and I’ve had to find a way to talk about the products that feel empowering, not fear-driven.
One of my biggest strengths has been my passion for the brand and building something that feels genuinely meaningful. I’ve always had an entrepreneurial way of thinking and have been very adaptable as the business continues to grow.
One of my weaknesses has been trying to do everything myself for too long, but that has pushed me to build stronger systems including improving forecasting and thinking more strategically about scaling the business for long-term retail growth.
What are the core values and principles that shape your brand’s decision-making process?
Everything behind Kepler comes back to creating products that genuinely help women feel more confident and prepared in everyday life.
Being able to support organisations creating real impact is also something that is deeply important to me and a core part of what Kepler stands for. For every keychain sold, $1 is donated to Escabags, a charity supporting individuals and families escaping domestic violence.
Beyond the products themselves, Kepler is focused on helping women feel safer through education and open conversations around personal safety. I want the brand to feel empowering while helping redefine how people interact with safety in everyday life.
What advice would you give to aspiring business owners?
Start before you feel ready. I think a lot of people wait for the perfect time or perfect idea when in reality so much of business is learning as you go.
Focus on creating something people genuinely connect with and don’t be afraid to share the story behind it because that human connection is often what people remember most.
I also think having someone you trust to be a sounding board really helps especially when starting a solo business. Having someone to talk ideas through with or get perspective from can make a huge difference during both the exciting moments and the hard ones.
What achievement are you most proud of?
One of the achievements I’m most proud of was being featured on A Current Affair which gave Kepler national exposure to an audience of around one million plus viewers.
The response was overwhelming and we completely sold out in just under two hours after the segment aired. More than anything though it showed me how strongly the message behind Kepler was resonating with women across Australia, something that reinforced my confidence in the future of the brand and what Kepler could become.
