A change in marketing personnel and child pornography charges again company spokesman Jared Fogle moved Subway in a non-spokesperson direction. But now the brand is returning to using athlete ambassadors.  New ads feature NFL stars and brothers J.J. Watt (Houston Texans), T.J. Watt (Pittsburgh Steelers) and  Derek Watt (Los Angeles Chargers); as well as their parents, John and Connie. The effort supports a limited-time promotion offering a free footlong sandwich when ordering one via the Subway app.

Women’s activewear sales in the U.S. remained flat in 2019, underperforming the men’s market, which grew by 2%, according to The NPD Group. For a third consecutive year, men’s sales grew at a faster rate than women’s. The trend of men’s growth outpacing women’s continues despite overall growth in women’s sports participation, according to Chain Store Age.

Art Fan Furniture was forced to close one of its stores early on Saturday after chaos resulting from its going-out-of-business sale. The prospect of deals led to traffic jams and reportedly fights in the store. All of the retailer’s stores will reopen on Monday at 2 p.m., which will allow time for staff to restock and reorganize, according to a company spokesperson. The retailer announced Thursday it is shutting down its 190 stores in seven states, putting 3,100 employees out of work.  A bankruptcy filing is expected this week.

Ikea reached out to customers Saturday with an email with instructions on how to properly put together and use its dressers. The retailer is in the midst of recalling 800,000 dressers that might tip over and pose a danger to children. The company tweeted: "Consumers with recalled chests not attached to the wall should stop use and contact Ikea for a refund or free wall-attachment kit." “The warning comes a few months after the company agreed to pay $46 million to the parents of a 2-year-old boy who died of injuries suffered when a 70-pound recalled dresser tipped over on him,” according …

Sonia Syngal, who has been leading the Old Navy business since 2016, has been tapped to be CEO of Gap Inc. effective March 23. Earlier this year, Gap called off plans to split Old Navy into a separate public company. Robert Fisher, the son of Gap’s founders, Donald and Doris Fisher, is stepping down as executive chairman and will be replaced by current board member Bobby Martin.  Gap is also adding former Bloomin’ Brands CEO Elizabeth Smith and former Regal Entertainment Group CEO Amy Miles to its board.

Southwest Airlines, United Airlines, American Airlines and JetBlue Airways met at the White House Wednesday with President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Airlines CEOs say personnel has stepped up cleaning and other procedures amid concerns about the coronavirus. “The global airline industry has been badly hit by the coronavirus outbreak, with early optimism that it would recover quickly becoming increasingly tempered,” per Business Insider. “Bookings have fallen as meetings and conferences around the world have been cancelled, and as major corporations have paused nonessential business travel.”

The head of Ram brand at Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is leaving the company April 3, according to a news release. "Reid Bigland filed a whistleblower lawsuit last year against FCA, alleging the company had retaliated against him because he was cooperating with the government investigation into its sales reporting,” according to the Detroit Free Press. FCA announced three appointments to replace Bigland, including Mike Koval, ad interim head of Ram in North America, who moves from director of Ram brand marketing U.S.

United Airlines is cutting both international and domestic flights due to the spread of the coronavirus and its effect on the travel industry. United plans to reduce its schedule of international flights by 20% in April, with similar reductions expected in May, airline executives said in a letter to employees Wednesday, according to the Chicago Tribune. The airline is also reducing scheduled flights in the United States and Canada by 10% in April.

Kohl’s recognizes that its women’s department is one of its biggest weaknesses at the moment. The retailer has been having more success in active and beauty, elsewhere in the store. But a new leadership team is making plans to phase out eight of its women’s brands. In their place, Kohl’s plans to launch additional private labels “leaning into its strongest national brand partners,” according to CNBC. “Some of those include Under Armour, Nike and Adidas.”

Mastercard says that its female employees worldwide make 7.8% less than the men. The admission comes at the request of shareholder Arjuna Capital, which asked the company to prepare a report on its global median gender pay gap and any risks related to recruiting and retaining female talent. “Nearly two dozen companies have now responded proactively to the Arjuna-led pay equity campaign,” Natasha Lamb, managing partner at Arjuna Capital, told Finance & Commerce. “Companies like Citi, Starbucks, and now Mastercard are now beginning to present more detailed gender pay gap information that we think constitutes an honest accounting of the …