Premium performance apparel engineered for the gym, the office and everything between - built by two brothers who couldn't find activewear that fit their whole day.
Rhone began, like a lot of good businesses, with a frustration. Around 2014, brothers Nate and Ben Checketts went looking for men's activewear that could survive a workout and still look right walking into a meeting. The premium performance market, they found, was built largely for women. The men's side was split between mass-market athletic giants and a handful of boutique labels, with little in the versatile middle.
So along with co-founders Casey Edgar, Kyle McClure and Carras Holmstead, they built the thing they wanted. Rhone launched web-only from Stamford, Connecticut, and did more than $80,000 in sales in its first two months - without a marketing team, PR or a full-time staff beyond a small core.
The bet was that performance and versatility, not logos, would define the next decade of menswear. It largely paid off. Rhone grew roughly 500% in 2015 and found shelf space in Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, Equinox and CorePower Yoga - the kind of premium distribution that signals a brand is more than a web store.
What sets Rhone apart today isn't only the clothing. It is the company's insistence on pairing physical fitness with mental fitness, an idea most apparel brands leave to their marketing captions. Rhone made it the point.
"This has been a dream for me since we launched Rhone a decade ago." - Nate Checketts, on the NBA partnership
Figures compiled from public sources and company statements. Revenue and headcount estimates vary across third-party databases.
Wrinkle-resistant, four-way-stretch, moisture-wicking dress shirts, pants and blazers that move like activewear but read as office-appropriate.
Training tops, shorts, joggers and outerwear built on technical performance fabrics for the gym and everyday wear.
Proprietary textile tech including anti-odor / anti-stink treatments and breathable, moisture-wicking materials.
A permanent line of leggings, sports bras, tops and matching sets, following earlier limited collections.
Licensed dress shirts and apparel featuring NBA and team logos, built on the Commuter platform.
Performance underwear and everyday essentials designed for comfort and durability.
Rhone occupies the premium performance lane in menswear - too refined for the mass-market athletic giants, too focused on function for the fashion houses. It competes with the men's ambitions of the athleisure category rather than the loud logos of traditional sportswear.
Its differentiator is the mental-fitness thesis: Mind & Muscle events, the "Head in the Game" campaign, and league partnerships turn a clothing brand into a community platform.
Rhone hosts "Mind & Muscle" - a group workout followed by what participants describe as group therapy for men. More than 50 were held in a single year.
The Checketts brothers and co-founders launch a web-only premium men's activewear brand and soon enter Bloomingdale's.
Grows roughly 500%, lands in Nordstrom, Equinox and CorePower Yoga, and closes a $5M Series A.
Introduces proprietary anti-odor performance fabrics and settles into its Stamford headquarters; the Commuter concept takes shape.
Raises a $12.2M round led by private-equity firm L Catterton to fund retail and product expansion.
A Series D backed by sports-world investors funds the buyout of L Catterton's minority stake.
Signs a multi-year NBA marketing partnership, launches "Head in the Game," and makes women's activewear permanent.
Continues opening owned stores, including a new location in Princeton, New Jersey.
| Round | Amount | Date | Notable Investors |
|---|---|---|---|
| Series A | $5M | Sep 2015 | Graph Ventures |
| Series B | $12.2M | Mar 2017 | L Catterton |
| Series D | Undisclosed | Jul 2022 | Gabe Plotkin, David Blitzer, Steve Young, Tim Tebow |
Rhone has raised roughly $33M across multiple rounds from 18+ investors. The 2022 Series D was structured largely to buy out a private-equity minority stake.
Multi-year global marketing partnership (2024) featuring the Commuter shirt, licensed team-logo dress shirts and mental-fitness programming.
Brings women golfers - including Lilia Vu and Lauren Hartlage - into Rhone's mental-fitness campaigns.
NBA veteran and mental-health advocate fronting the "Head in the Game" campaign.
Premium fitness retailers that stocked Rhone and helped drive its early growth.
Department-store partners that expanded Rhone beyond web-only sales.
Steve Young and Tim Tebow among the sports figures on the cap table.
Rhone is a premium performance apparel brand founded in 2014 and based in Stamford, Connecticut, known for men's activewear and its versatile Commuter collection, with a growing women's line.
It was co-founded by brothers Nate and Ben Checketts along with Casey Edgar, Kyle McClure and Carras Holmstead. Nate Checketts serves as CEO.
The Commuter is Rhone's signature line of dress shirts, pants and blazers engineered with stretch, moisture-wicking and wrinkle-resistant fabric so they perform like activewear but look office-ready.
Mind & Muscle is an event series that pairs a group workout with open discussion about mental health, part of Rhone's broader mental-fitness mission with the NBA and LPGA.
Rhone began as a men's-first brand but launched a permanent women's activewear line in 2024, adding leggings, sports bras, tops and matching sets.