CLEVELAND — Schoolbelles, a school uniform and accessories company, is something Christine Correll holds close to her heart. She said her grandmother started the company more than 60 years ago.

As a new school year approaches, the company is doing what it can to prepare amid challenges like inflation.

What You Need To Know

  • Christine Correll’s grandmother started Schoolbelles more than 60 years ago

  • As a new school season draws closer and closer, Correll said staff are doing what they can to prepare

  • She said this effort is only being complicated by inflation

  • Supply chain issues have also resulted in parents having to wait for uniforms to come in 
​“We have a great team,” she said. “People have actually been working here for three decades, so we definitely have a very tight bond, which obviously allows us to work efficiently and well with each other, and I really do love meeting new parents.” 

Correll said staff are doing what they can to prepare to serve about a thousand schools throughout the U.S.

“I would say 80% to 85% of our business is done within a six-to-eight-week period in the summertime," she said. "So, we have all of these schools all coming in at the same time so our goal is to ship out. We try to get about 800 packages a day.” 

She said this effort is only being complicated by inflation. 

“Mainly the issue does become with the raw materials of that cost skyrocketing, our vendors incurring an extra cost on us that unfortunately we have to throw into here like many other companies do at this time of the year,” she said. 

Supply chain issues have also resulted in parents having to wait for uniforms to come in.  

“The issue that we have is that a lot of the orders that we have placed with our vendors, we normally do it probably by October, November, December of the following year,” she said. “Typically, that'll take about two to three months. This year, we're waiting at times eight to 10 months.” 

Correll said despite this, she is staying positive. 

“We're all in this together,” she said. “That one phone call of a parent, guardian saying thank you for looking out and just striving to make sure that they came into this situation in a negative tone. My goal is to get them out in a positive tone. I’m absolutely capable and able to do it, and that's what makes my day.”