When it comes to athleisure wear, men can surely be better served, say the founders of menswear brand Rhone — a self-described band of simple “weekday warriors” who desired only some apparel suitable for both the gym and their everyday lives.
Rhone is one of several brands, many of them digitally native, making a debut or expanding this year.
“As guys, we felt that the best active clothing was not being made for men anymore; it was being made for women,” said Rhone co-founder and CEO Nate Checketts. “We felt that there was an opportunity to take some of the best fabrics in the world and apply it specifically to the way the modern man lives, works and sweats.”
Rhone uses fabrics that have been developed with performance in mind — stretchy, breathable, moisture-wicking and odor-controlling — for daily apparel and activewear, whether polo shirts, khakis, T-shirts or joggers. Rhone’s commuter pants looks like a typical pair of trousers, wearable at the office or when going out to dinner. “[They’re] not really meant to go running in — but if you wanted to run a marathon in these pants, you could,” said Checketts. The apparel is sophisticated: no bold neon colors emblazoned with giant logos across the chest here.
Checketts and co-founders Carras Holmstead and Kyle McClure launched Rhone in 2013 with a website and a wholesale strategy for selling apparel at gyms. Now its products are sold at some 600 outlets, including retailers (Bloomingdale's and Nordstrom), fitness centers (Equinox) and resorts (Four Seasons).
The company is rolling out its own stores, too — beginning with its very first, which opened in 2016 at the Chelsea Piers Connecticut recreation facility, in Stamford, and followed up with a kiosk at Brookfield Place, in downtown New York City, in 2017. Rhone has been using pop-ups to test out additional markets and locations: The company is on track to open a 1,500-square-foot experiential pop-up in New York City’s Midtown soon that is to continue operating until May. Rhone is also set to open a 1,000-square-foot store at New York City’s Hudson Yards next month.
The omni-channel realities of our day are here to stay, Checketts asserts. Therefore, he will not measure the success of a particular shop merely by the sales generated at that particular location, but also by the way it stimulates sales online and at other retailers, he says. “That allows us to understand the full impact that retail can have,” he said. “The game has changed.”
Real estate inquiries may be directed to Barbara Nealey, Rhone’s director of retail, at Barb@rhone.com.
By Beth Mattson-Teig
Contributor, Commerce + Communities Today
