Nate Checketts, CEO and co-founder of men's apparel and activewear brand Rhone, has mastered the art of building a premium brand at a comfortable pace. Rhone, Checketts' 8-year-old brand based in Connecticut, has gone through its fair share of growing pains. Checketts owes its ability to power through the tough times to quality products and smart strategies. 

"Part of the ethos and emphasis of Rhone has always been marrying aesthetic and function," Checketts said on the latest episode of the Glossy Podcast.

Activewear, or as the brand categorizes it "performance lifestyle," has been a key driver of Rhone's business. The category performed incredibly well in 2019, but like every other brand, Rhone was not prepared for the year that followed.

"[The year] 2020 was an enormous challenge for us because the interest swung into active and lounge[wear], and we could not keep those products in stock. We were chasing inventory," Checketts said. "Not only [were we] not able to get enough inventory to keep up with demand in a typical calendar year, but now, you have supply chain challenges and countries shutting down, too."

Checketts said the sudden increase in demand and new challenges the team faced helped shape Rhone's business strategy from there. "As we thought about 2021, we had to start making calculated decisions as to when we thought lifestyle [apparel] was going to come back," Checketts said.