# Backbone Reviews 2026. Verified Reviews, Pros & Cons | Capterra > Is Backbone the right Fashion Design solution for you? Explore 68 verified user reviews from people in industries like yours to make a confident choice. Source: https://www.capterra.com/p/191336/backbone/reviews --- Backbone 4.2 (68) [View alternatives](https://www.capterra.com/p/191336/backbone/alternatives/) Provider data verified by our Software Research team, and reviews moderated by our Reviews Verification team. [Learn more](https://www.capterra.com/our-story/) * * * Last updated March 13th, 2026 # Reviews of Backbone Ease of use 4.1 Customer Service 4.7 ## Pros and Cons in Reviews JS Joshua S PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & DESIGN MANAGERConsumer Goods, 51 - 200 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “The ability to create consistent tech packs in an organized and detailed manner is outstanding.“ October 12, 2022 DS Denise S Director Material Development & SourcingApparel & Fashion, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Don't like having to create separate product packages for regular and plus size garments. “ October 12, 2022 AF Anna F Product DeveloperApparel & Fashion, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: 6-12 months. “love the drag and fill in for spec sheets (like excel), love that there are images in the components and palette pulls in, love the ability to print different configurations of tech packs, love the drag and drop in the BOM area, love the customer service that is super responsive and the video's for help with how-to“ September 28, 2021 NC Nina C Tech DesignerApparel & Fashion, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “There are a lot of glitches when creating a spec page and editing it, it's very easy to log the measurements into the wrong rows as the system has to catch up as soon as you put in a number. “ October 11, 2021 CA Chris A Marketing ManagerApparel & Fashion, 1,001 - 5,000 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Most impactful is the ability to have all of your product data and attributes in one place with the ability to make changes that reflect across the entire system.“ October 7, 2021 JS Jasmine S Design AssistantDesign, 2 - 10 employeesUsed the software for: Less than 6 months. “I wish I was able to copy and paste from excel. When dragging a value from one row/column in backbone, it is not consistent in if it copies the value and pastes.“ September 28, 2021 JW John W ownerSporting Goods, 11 - 50 employeesUsed the software for: More than 2 years. “Other garment PLM solutions tend to include much bigger and in my opinion, sprawling solutions that include purchasing, inventory management, inter-factory communications and a bunch of other services that we already take care quite well on our own.“ October 5, 2021 LS Linda S BuyerLuxury Goods & Jewelry, 201 - 500 employeesUsed the software for: 1-2 years. “Not intuitive. If I click on a link in an email, it opens the site so I can log in, and then I have to go back to the email to click on the link again.“ October 7, 2021 ## Showing most helpful reviews Showing 1-25 of 68 Reviews Sort by: Most Helpful Rating Company Size Reviewer's Role Length of Use Frequency of Use VR Verified Reviewer Technical Design/ Product Development Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "My Tech Packing Go To" October 21, 2022 5.0 It's mostly positive. There's great support and customer service. Pros This program makes building tech packs easier than spreadsheet programs or other web PDM programs I've used. I enjoy how easily the BOM populates and grading with ease. Cons Creating the tech pack PDF is tedious. And if something needs to be changed you have to go through the entire process again... not fun if it's only one small change that needed to be made. That's the biggest downside to this program. The other is that sometimes updated specs in the sample page do not copy over to the main spec and grading pages. Review Source LM Lynn M. Owner / Doer Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good for housing TechPacks" October 7, 2021 4.0 V1 was simple and easy even though it had missing functionality, it was workable. Housing complete TP in one place. Having a Trims and Materials library to ensure BOMs are standardized, Specs and Grading are more consistent, all comments and images are in one place. This is how and why I use BB. I am not overly excited about V2. The change to the user experience was so drastic and seemingly not an improvement. Pros V1 was more intuitive, simple for TechPack build. Housing sketches, BOM, spec and comments. Easy to use. V2 color palette is nice. Set up is easy, but still not efficient to pull into styles and BOMs V2 Line Sheet is a nice concept but still need to build a lot in AI to pull in Cons V2 is glitchy and cumbersome. It is trying to do more than V1, but not doing it to the level of it being more efficient and useful. No secure log ins to share only specific information with brands or factory. Still missing a lot of functionality. For example: complete costing with Margin and landed cost views, Forecasting materials, Forecasting production, inventory management, Lab dip status and review, Product Lifecycle planning, etc Reason for choosing Backbone Centric does not offer a package for a single user. Their product is very nice Switched from [Microsoft Excel](https://www.capterra.com/p/176574/Excel/) To have more consistent and standardized information, have one source of truth, to better communicate with my factories and brands to have consistent ways of viewing data. Review Source SC Sara C. Creative Director Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Good Value PLM " September 28, 2021 3.0 It's been pretty easy to work with Backbone. The customer service is prompt and cordial and we love our rep. The price for the system is also unbeatable, but you do get what you pay for. If you are looking for a first time PLM system, this is a great place to start. It UX is very straightforward and most anyone with some tech savvy can quickly pick up on the functionality and adopt it in as little as a month. Pros Creating products is very simple and the interface is very intuitive. It does not take long to train a new hire on how to use this system. The cost for the program is very affordable, and I would recommend it for any startup or company seeking to launch their first PLM integration. Cons There are several features that we were told were in the roadmap 2 years ago that have not been rolled out. Vendor integration is not something that currently exists. The "supplier login" feature does not seem to be as simple as we were told it would be. Additionally, there seem to be consistent glitches within the system that prevents things from running as smoothly as it should. We would love to see an easier ERP integration for costing, style and color assignment, but the only option currently available in that regard would require a complete backend buildout by a 3rd party IT company or if you had someone on staff to easily write code for that feature. Alternatives considered [BlueCherry](https://www.capterra.com/p/2895/BlueCherry/)[Centric PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/10010504/Centric-PLM/) Reason for choosing Backbone Price and a very rapid implementation timeline. We were up and running within a month of signing the contract! Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 5, 2021 Thank you very much for taking the time to leave us a review and provide our team feedback on your experience with Backbone! We greatly appreciate it. As much of our team comes from design and development backgrounds, we're so glad you've found Backbone easy and intuitive to use--it's a huge part of our core mission! We're sorry to hear some parts of the platform have not met your expectations. Like many companies, we experienced setbacks in 2020 related to the pandemic. In 2021 our engineering team has made significant progress in releasing over 300 performance improvements. We have a number of exciting updates planned for the rest of this year and into 2022 based on client requests that will enhance the functionality of our platform in ways that should address your frustrations. Please continue to contact your CSM to review any specific workflow stops or bugs, we greatly appreciate your patience with us as we continue to grow the company and platform! ER Evi R. DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Backbone - The Future of PLM Management" September 29, 2021 5.0 My experience is nothing but amazing! I am a core user and believe Backbone is the future of PLM! Pros I like how easy it is to manage my projects. I have worked in other platforms and i have found that Backbone is the easiest most efficient program. I have saved so much more time! Cons I wish some of the features from 1.0 were moved forward for 2.0: 1. Utilization tool that you could download as a pdf based on your program and filters was super helpful. 2. Selecting color in summary and then in each component is a nightmare! Sometimes I working with 4-5 different colorways and not being able to select multiple colors at once can be frusrating. 3. Managing Labdips on a component level would be nice. Right now I just have a google doc. Keeping in one place would save time. 4. Comments tool box size in Feedback and revisions - way too small for me to type all the information in. Also having an auto save would be amazing! Switched from [Centric PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/10010504/Centric-PLM/)[Microsoft Excel](https://www.capterra.com/p/176574/Excel/) As a design firm - we felt it was important to manage our brands on a better level and help the efficiency of my product management. Centric - I still work in it for another brand and i want to cry sometimes. So thank you! Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 4, 2021 Thank you for taking the time to leave Backbone a review! We're so pleased to hear as a long-time client, that you've had such a positive experience on our platform. We very much value the feedback you've provided as it helps us further enhance the platform to meet your and other client needs. We will pass on your specific comments regarding Backbone functionality to our product and engineering teams as they continue to work on new features and release enhancements. ES Eden S. Sr Manager, Development + Production Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great for small teams." September 28, 2021 4.0 This has been huge for our business to get us out of spreadsheets and old PDF's, and into an organized system for our products. It's made tech pack creation and updates super efficient, and enabled accurate COGS tracking. The program is intuitive to use and dynamic, unlike many larger, more archaic PLMs. We feel able to scale for some time with Backbone, even as we expand into new product categories. Pros We did implementation in record time and it's very intuitive to use, which makes onboarding interns and new hires super simple and low touch (very valuable for a small rapidly growing team). We've also felt very heard on development/new feature requests, and that the platform continues to grow in value as it develops. Cons We initially sourced it for inventory/purchase order integration and two years later, this feature still hasn't been implemented. We were also interested in Shopify integration with inventory. The software is also often glitchy when searching products, uploading files, and making changes to BOM's. Alternatives considered [Bamboo Rose](https://www.capterra.com/p/210853/Bamboo-Rose/)[Centric PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/10010504/Centric-PLM/) Reason for choosing Backbone Backbone was the only design-focused PLM we encountered, with a size and ease of use that works for a company of our smaller size (but with a large SKU offering and repeat-heavy business). Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 5, 2021 Thanks so much for your feedback on Backbone! We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review. We're delighted to hear Backbone is such an essential part of your company's design and development workflow. Being an intuitive, easy to learn and use platform is extremely important to us, and we're so glad that's been your experience so far. We look forward to growing with you! We have a number of exciting updates planned for the rest of this year and into 2022 based on client requests that will enhance the functionality of our platform in ways that should address your frustrations. JW John W. owner Sporting Goods Used the software for: 2+ years ### "A great solution for teams working on garment product management" October 5, 2021 4.0 Simply put, Backbone allows our product team that is located on different sides of the country to work collaboratively on garments in a really meaningful way, and ultimately produce a tech pack that looks really tight. Its one of those pieces of software that make the cut to become an essential tool to running your business. Pros Backbone seems to be unique in that it really focuses on tech packs, and all of the parts of the tech pack (materials, suppliers, colors, etc). Other garment PLM solutions tend to include much bigger and in my opinion, sprawling solutions that include purchasing, inventory management, inter-factory communications and a bunch of other services that we already take care quite well on our own. As a result, Backbone delivers on exactly what we need, at a more reasonable price. Cons There are some parts of Backbone that still feel like they are in development. But to their credit, the product is regularly updating with solid improvements, and they are very, very receptive to input. I think also it's important for a new user to understand that Backbone has to work for a bunch of different kinds of products and companies, so some flexibility is required. Alternatives considered [WFX PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/42449/WFX-PLM/)[Centric PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/10010504/Centric-PLM/) Reason for choosing Backbone I didn't need all of the services or the very lengthy onboarding and training required by these other products. Review Source aG athena G. Creative director Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Elope review " September 28, 2021 5.0 I’ve had a very good experience with backbone everyone helps when you have an issue and I feel like it fits well for my organization Pros I like the custom ability with a custom field. Anytime you have a problem you can generally solve it by adding a custom Field. Cons It can go a little bit slow especially when you have large files you’re trying to upload or you were trying to get a lot of information on a product in an item master. I also wish that it had notifications and actual project management so that every thing could be managed right with her backbone Reason for choosing Backbone It integrated with NetSuite and was also the best value for the price Switched from [DeSL](https://www.capterra.com/p/100272/DeSL/) We were constantly having issues with errors it was also incredibly hard to use it would take 17 clicks just to drop a product Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 4, 2021 Thanks so much for your feedback on Backbone! We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review. We're so happy to hear your experience has been positive so far, and we hope to enhance the parts of the system you love to make them even more beneficial to you and all of our clients. We're also excited to hear how much value custom field creation and management has given you and your team! Being a customizable solution that's easy to use is at the core of our mission as a company. We have a number of exciting updates planned for the rest of this year and into 2022 based on client requests that will enhance the functionality of our platform in ways that should address your frustrations. We appreciate your patience with us as we continue to grow the company and platform! JM Jennifer M. Apparel Developer Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Apparel PLM System" September 28, 2021 5.0 The Backbone team is great to work with and super quick to respond. Pros Ease of use / navigation. Easy to learn the system. Cons Sometimes the system can be a little glitchy. Tech packs cold be laid out a little better so they are easier to read. Switched from [WFX PLM](https://www.capterra.com/p/42449/WFX-PLM/) Wanted a better system that more easily/clearly stored information Review Source RW Rebecca W. technical designer Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Backbone review" September 28, 2021 2.0 Pros Searching for a product is fairly easy. Customer support is quick, even though I don't always get the answers I'm looking for. They are very courteous and try very hard to support their users. I appreciate that. I do like in the spec sheet being able to see the grade rule along with actual measurement. Makes setting up a graded spec easy. Cons \- There is no log. There is no way to see a previous spec sheet or previous BOM if someone else makes updates or if someone makes a mistake. - There is no notes section. Backbone only gives a bad workaround asking us to use the fit and revision section for TP notes. - Compare samples section is non-functional and difficult to view/comprehend. Vendors do not find it useful. - Many bugs that we are often asking Backbone to fix. - Work flow is very, very slow. Uploading pictures seams easy, but deleting out old pictures is time consuming. - File section is very unorganized and difficult to view all saved files. Reason for choosing Backbone I was not involved in the choice to purchase Backbone. Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 4, 2021 Thank you for taking the time to leave Backbone a review! We very much value the feedback you've provided as it helps us further enhance the platform to meet your and other client needs. We're happy to hear you've had such a positive experience with our Client Success Team, and we hope we can continue to provide exceptional support to both you and your team. Like many companies, we experienced setbacks in 2020 related to the pandemic. In 2021, our engineering team has made significant progress in releasing over 300 performance improvements. We have a number of exciting updates planned for the rest of this year and into 2022 based on client requests that will enhance the functionality of our platform in ways that should address your frustrations. Please continue to contact your CSM to review any specific workflow stops or bugs, we greatly appreciate your patience with us as we continue to grow the company and platform! VR Verified Reviewer Design Manager Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 2+ years ### "Backbone doesn't disappoint!" September 27, 2021 5.0 Exceptional! Pros The product is very user friendly and Backbone's customer service is extremely responsive. Cons There are still bugs that pop up but the team at Backbone is quick to work through them. There were also some features that were discussed as we were implementing this system that have still not come to fruition (app, images in component level) Review Source KB Kate B. PURCHASING & SOURCING MANAGER Retail Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Backbone Review" November 2, 2021 5.0 Pros The import and export functions on the data has been very useful when integrating other platforms into our business. Cons When you export the data it is complicated and not well organized in excel. Review Source ET Emily T. Product Development Manager Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Great program!" September 28, 2022 5.0 Library for all fabric and trim makes it easier to create BOMs Pros The ease of use navigating through the site. The buttons are very clear Cons You are quite limited to the amount of variants each component can have which makes for further confusion. Review Source TY Tsan Y. Designer Graphic Design Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Unintuitive design, not user friendly, useful menus hidden, clicking several times to get to where " October 4, 2021 2.0 Pros Visually clean, items have icons showing. Cons Unintuitive design, not user friendly, useful menus are hidden. You have to click several times to get to where you need to enter items because sometimes you click, other times you click behind the hidden menus. Unintuitive design that shows this program was not made with the user in mind. Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 15, 2021 Thanks so much for your feedback on Backbone! We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review. We're sorry to hear some parts of the platform have not met your expectations. Like many companies, we experienced setbacks in 2020 related to the pandemic. In 2021 our engineering team has made significant progress in releasing over 300 performance improvements. We very much value the feedback you've provided as it helps us further enhance the platform to meet your and other client needs. We will pass on your specific comments regarding Backbone functionality to our product and engineering teams as they continue to work on new features and release enhancements! BP Briah P. Product Designer Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great Software" October 7, 2021 5.0 It has made my job so much easier, and lets focus on the creative stuff. Pros Its one source of truth, everything in one spot. Cons Some areas are still needing some work since the product is relatively new Review Source BH Brianne H. Senior Production Associate Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 1-2 years ### "Backbone Review" September 28, 2021 3.0 It is good for building tech packs and PLM. Pros The simplicity of the design of the system and that it is user friendly. Cons Glitchy system and run into errors on a regular basis. Review Source Response from Backbone PLM October 5, 2021 Thanks so much for your feedback on Backbone! We appreciate you taking the time to leave us a review. As much of our team comes from design and development backgrounds, we're so glad you've found Backbone easy and intuitive to use--it's a huge part of our core mission! We have a number of exciting updates planned for the rest of this year and into 2022 based on client requests that will enhance the functionality of our platform in ways that should address your frustrations. We appreciate your patience with us as we continue to grow the company and platform! bB bridget B. Desinger Entertainment Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Very happy" September 28, 2021 4.0 Pros Simple, easy to use and get new users up to speed on Cons It takes some getting used to creating tech packs and selecting images when you aren't able to see what's available Review Source VJ Vanessa J. Pre-Production Coordinator and Technical Designer Design Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Really great product!" October 7, 2021 4.0 Pros Backbone has been so great for creating tech packs and recording measurements of garments. So easy to input the specs and it does the math for you! Love this feature! Cons Sometimes things get deleted or altered in our BOMs and we don't know why. This is a little frustrating. Review Source PL Phillip L. Developer Consumer Goods Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "FHF review of back bone." October 12, 2021 4.0 Back bone is easy to use, and produces professional results. Pros Component links to all products that use components. Once an update is made the component, you don't have to change it in every product. Its is done automatically. Cons The fact you have to sign back it after not using the program for 10 mins. Make it so I could opt out of that. Also a note that you sent a tech pack email would be nice. Tech pack sent on xyz date to email address. That would be nice to keep track of. Review Source TF Tiva F. Project Manager Retail Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Great for Collaborating and Easy to Use" October 11, 2021 5.0 My co-workers as designers and product developers use it daily. As a project manager, it makes it easy for me to see where development stands by looking in Backbone. I like the ease of adding new items. Pros I like being able to search for a fabric code and see which of our products share in this same fabric. Cons I would like more export options so I can easily sort through the information to share. Review Source FM Fany M. Senior Product Developer & Fit Specialist Design Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "BB review" October 7, 2021 5.0 Pros once libaries are filled out it makes it easy to fill out TP Cons setting up the libraries, sharing files with makers, ease of updating & sharing TP Review Source HS Honor S. Product Coordinator Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Useful" October 5, 2021 5.0 Pros I find that it is easy and mostly intuitive to use. Cons I wish the information could share across platforms, for example the NAV system we use. Right now we are doing a lot of double entry into both platforms. Review Source RD Rebecca D. Student Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Backbone Review" October 8, 2021 5.0 I really enjoy backbone Pros I really like how easy this software is to use. There are a lot of resources that help with anything I may have questions about. Cons Some features on backbone are a bit hard to locate. I wish that components and products were a combined feature. Review Source NN Nick N. Founder Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Simple & User Friendly" October 14, 2021 5.0 Customer Service was exceptional and the ongoing support greatly appreciated Pros As a non-designer who needed a simple PLM solution I loved the very user friendly interface and high level of customisation. Having implemented more expensive PLM platforms. (Like Flex) the ability to cover basics easily was greatly appreciated. Cons Would like to see some level of integration with other platforms (Shopify) to share SKU info, etc. Review Source NK Nicole K. Sustainability/PLM manager Textiles Used the software for: Less than 6 months ### "Backbone - the foundation of our product lifecycle" September 28, 2021 5.0 I REALLY appreciate the consistent cadence of touch bases with my customer service team as well as their prompt reply to one-off questions I have had over time. They have been super helpful at guiding me on ways to work through questions and set best practices around system functionality. Pros Integration with our existing business was relatively easy because we were starting with Backbone as we started our first production season, so we did not have to manage a massive data migration into the system. Having the training tools to learn the system functionality as I was setting up our business was great - the training documentation and videos provide the perfect balance of high level explanation and detailed focus. Cons One missing function in Backbone is a color tracking app. We are exploring ways to include and track lab dips within the platform. If there was existing functionality to dynamically track lab dips on a component level, that would be amazing! Not sure if that would integrate the color palette app with the component app or if an entirely new app would be needed to solve for this need. I wish there were more ways to search for products and components besides name and item code/style number. We have adapted by including specific info in our component names and we use the filters as a work around. It would be nice for the auto-generated item codes to default to ALL CAPS and not include 0/O or I/L/1 to avoid confusion. Alternatives considered [Viber](https://www.capterra.com/p/180348/Viber/) Review Source AF Anna F. Product Developer Apparel & Fashion Used the software for: 6-12 months ### "Fairly new user" September 28, 2021 5.0 The use of component creation, palettes, BOM, spec sheets is very easy and there are a lot of short-cuts that make data entry easy. It is also configurable - i.e . the way it prints out, and is shared with factory/supplier. Pros love the drag and fill in for spec sheets (like excel), love that there are images in the components and palette pulls in, love the ability to print different configurations of tech packs, love the drag and drop in the BOM area, love the customer service that is super responsive and the video's for help with how-to Cons several places don't show lists in alphabetical order, several places show the "name" only while others show the "code" only, sometimes the "search" only picks certain fields, some of it is just getting used to what areas do what functions and what the "work-around" is to do what you need. don't like that the images are not easy/intuitive to update, correct... I find it simpler to download a new illustrator each time. Review Source Similar Products Featured ## Send me user reviews about this product ### Fill out the form and we'll send a list of the top-rated software based on real user reviews directly to your inbox.