Rhone CEO Nate Checketts said his company "saw the writing on the wall really quickly" in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic.

Companies like his men’s activewear brand would soon be bloated with inventory and feel the pressure to boost e-commerce promotions.

"If everybody's getting promotional all at once, that's going to shift customer demand away from us if we're continuing to operate at full price," Checketts said. "So I challenged our team in 24 hours to get a promotion ready and to be ready to effectively communicate to the customers about what steps and actions we were taking."

That plan included an email newsletter that's actually useful to readers instead of just being a distress call -- and the rare discount on Rhone products. "We won't go deep, but you will see brands that will have to," Checketts said.

"In some cases it might act as a clearing house to get non-serious players out, and that will present some opportunities. I do think that brands that I won't name but leaned so heavily into retail before they were really ready for it are in a lot of pain now," he added.

Even on Rhone's e-commerce front, he said, "there's definitely been a demand impact, no question."

Checketts talked about leadership values, what brick-and-mortar landlords should keep in mind and how he's staying honest with his employees.