Migrating to Kōbō
Kōbō moves your styles, colourways, materials, bills of materials, measurements, suppliers and tech pack files over from spreadsheets or another PLM. Most teams are live in 1 to 2 weeks. Migration support is included, there are no setup fees, and supplier seats are free.
Styles and colourways, materials and trims, bills of materials, points of measure, suppliers, target prices, tech pack PDFs, sketches and images.
Days for a clean spreadsheet. 1 to 2 weeks for most teams. 2 to 4 weeks from another PLM, depending on data volume and customisation.
No setup fees. Migration support is included with your plan, and supplier seats are free.
What data can you migrate into Kōbō?
Anything that describes a product and who makes it. You bring it in three ways: spreadsheet imports you run yourself, Magic Import for tech pack files, and hands-on help from our team for the messier parts.
Closed seasons can come across too, since every imported style can carry its season, but most teams start with the season they're about to develop.
How long does a PLM migration take?
Most teams are fully set up in 1 to 2 weeks. A clean spreadsheet migration can be done in days. Moving from another PLM typically takes 2 to 4 weeks, depending on how much data you bring and how much you customise.
The number of styles matters less than you'd think. What changes the timeline:
How consistent your files are. One template across every tech pack is quick; years of different layouts take longer.
Whether BOMs live inside the tech pack PDFs or in separate sheets.
How many colourways each style carries.
How many seasons of history you want to bring.
How much you customise: custom fields, sample stages, categories and permissions.
Every migration runs through the same four phases.
Plan & prepare
A discovery call on your current tools, files and data structure.
Decide what moves first. Usually that's the season you're about to develop, not your whole archive.
Map your columns, stages and categories to Kōbō, messy bits included. You don't have to clean everything up first.
Import & check
Spreadsheet imports for styles, materials and measurements, with a preview and validation before anything saves.
Magic Import for tech pack files: approve or skip each style, BOM, measurement set and colourway it finds.
Check imported records against the source with your team before anyone relies on them.
Configure & onboard
Set up currencies, seasons, categories, sample stages and measurement units.
Invite your team with the permissions each person needs.
Invite your suppliers and factories, free of charge, to their own portal.
Run & support
Run your next season in Kōbō while the current one finishes in your old system.
A dedicated account manager for questions, plus regular check-ins as your team grows.
Help centre guides and Kōbō Academy lessons for anyone who joins later.
Migrating 500 tech packs
Say you have 500 tech packs, mostly PDFs with an Excel spec sheet here and there. You upload the folder, or point Magic Import at Google Drive. It groups the files into styles, pulls out the BOMs, measurements and colourways it finds, and shows you the estimated AI credit cost before you confirm.
Your team then reviews each cluster: merge files that belong to the same style, keep separate ones apart, approve or skip. When you finalise, you choose whether to create components, link suppliers, set a default season and auto-number style codes.
How long that takes depends on the files, not the count. 500 tech packs built from one template review quickly; 500 built by three designers in their own layouts take longer, and that's the part we help with. Send us a sample and we'll give you a realistic estimate.
How do you migrate from spreadsheets to a PLM?
Start with one season, not your whole history. Then work through it in this order.
Pick one master sheet per thing: styles, materials, measurements. If the same style lives in three sheets, decide which one wins.
Download Kōbō's import template, or keep your own headers. Common column names like Vendor, Factory, RRP or Ex-Factory Date are recognised and mapped for you.
Import materials first, then styles, so the suppliers and components your styles reference already exist.
Preview the import. Rows with errors can be skipped and fixed, and re-importing can update existing styles instead of duplicating them.
Attach the files: tech pack PDFs, sketches and images through Magic Import or a connected Dropbox or Google Drive.
Spot-check a handful of styles against the original sheet before retiring it.
If you're still deciding whether you need a PLM at all, our guide to PLM vs spreadsheets for fashion brands covers when the switch pays off.
How do you migrate from another PLM like Centric, Delogue, Backbone, Techpacker or WFX?
The same way as from spreadsheets, with an export step first. What you can export depends on your vendor and plan, so check before you give notice. The export path usually looks like this:
Export styles, materials and BOMs to Excel or CSV. If there's no bulk export, a report or list view exported to Excel often does the job.
Download tech packs as PDFs, plus sketches, images and attachments.
Export your supplier list with contacts.
Check your contract: notice period, renewal date, and whether data exports or API access are included.
Keep read-only access to the old system for a season if you can.
The export doesn't have to match our template. During planning we map your old system's fields, stages and categories to Kōbō's, then import and check the records with you.
Comparing before you switch?
Or see all fashion PLM comparisons in one place.
What if you're outgrowing your current PLM?
Outgrowing a PLM usually shows up as workarounds. Specs get kept in a spreadsheet next to the system because it's quicker. Suppliers work from emailed PDFs because they don't have seats. Simple changes need a consultant.
If that's where you are, moving to a lighter system isn't a step down. Kōbō covers design, tech packs, sampling, costing and supplier collaboration, with purchase orders and production planning in the Ops & Supply module. It connects with the tools you already use; see Kōbō's integrations for the full list.
Still deciding whether to switch? Our guide to changing PLM systems covers the warning signs and a 30-day rollout plan.
For a wider view, read our guide to the best fashion PLM software or compare Kōbō pricing.
What does implementation and training include?
Migration support is included and there are no setup fees. Every account gets a dedicated account manager. Implementation covers:
Discovery and data mapping. We look at your tools, files and data, agree what moves first, and map it to Kōbō.
Workspace setup. Currencies, seasons, categories and category codes (so style numbers run in sequence per category), sample stages, measurement units, and custom fields on Studio Pro.
Permissions. A Simple view with plain bundles (Admin, Products & development, Selling, Money), or the full Advanced grid when you need it.
Team onboarding. Getting your team working in Kōbō on the workflows they use day to day.
Integrations. Connecting Dropbox, Google Drive, Adobe Illustrator, Shopify or Xero where your plan includes them. The API comes with Studio Pro and Sell & Deliver, or as an add-on.
Self-serve learning. Help centre user guides, and Kōbō Academy lessons.
Ongoing support. A dedicated account manager and regular check-ins as your team grows.
What happens to supplier and factory access?
Suppliers and factories get their own portal, and supplier seats are free, so you don't pay per factory user.
In the portal they see the styles, files, components, purchase orders, quotations, shipments and calendar you share with them. They can confirm or flag purchase orders, create shipments, comment with @mentions and invite their own team members. You choose which critical path milestones they can see. Purchase orders and shipments come with the Ops & Supply module.
Tech pack PDFs can be AI-translated into the language your factory works in. Because suppliers are created from your imported styles and materials, each one lands on work that's already theirs.
PLM migration checklist
Before you export
Pick the first season you'll run in Kōbō.
List every source: sheets, PDFs, shared drives, the old PLM.
Check your old contract's notice period and export terms.
Book a migration call to agree scope and order.
During the import
Map your columns, stages and categories.
Import materials and suppliers, then styles and measurements.
Run Magic Import on tech pack files and review each cluster.
Spot-check styles against the source.
At go-live
Configure currencies, seasons, categories and permissions.
Invite your team, then your suppliers and factories.
Connect Dropbox, Google Drive, Illustrator or Shopify.
Keep the old system read-only for a season.
PLM migration questions
How long does it take to switch to a new PLM?+
With Kōbō, most teams are fully set up in 1 to 2 weeks. A clean spreadsheet migration can be done in days. Moving from another PLM typically takes 2 to 4 weeks, depending on data volume and how much you customise. Most teams start with their next season rather than their whole archive.
How much does it cost to migrate to Kōbō?+
There are no setup fees and migration support is included. You pay your normal subscription, with plans from $140 per user per month, and supplier seats are free. Magic Import uses AI credits, and it shows you the estimated credit cost before you confirm an import.
Can we migrate hundreds of tech packs that are PDFs?+
Yes. Magic Import takes tech pack files up to 2GB, from upload or Google Drive, groups them into styles and extracts the BOMs, measurements and colourways it finds for you to review. How long it takes depends on how consistent the files are, not just how many there are.
Do we need to clean up our data before migrating?+
No. Cleaning and mapping are part of planning, and you can move one collection at a time. It helps to pick one master sheet per thing (styles, materials, measurements) and decide which version wins when they disagree. We map your columns to Kōbō, so you don't have to reformat everything.
Can we switch PLM in the middle of a season?+
Yes, with a parallel run. Set up your next season in Kōbō while you finish the current one in your existing system. Your team learns on new work without pressure, and nothing already in progress gets disrupted. Once the new season is running, the old system can go read-only.
What happens to our suppliers when we move to Kōbō?+
They get their own portal access, and supplier seats are free. Suppliers see the styles, files, components, orders and shipments you share with them, confirm or flag purchase orders, and invite their own team. You don't pay per factory user, so everyone works from the same tech pack.
Can you migrate us from Centric, Delogue or another PLM?+
Yes. The process is the same as from spreadsheets, with an export step first. You export styles, materials and BOMs to Excel or CSV and download tech packs as PDFs, and we map your old fields to Kōbō's during planning. Moves from another PLM typically take 2 to 4 weeks.
Does Kōbō work with the tools we already use?+
Yes. Depending on your plan, Kōbō connects with Adobe Illustrator, Dropbox, Google Drive, Shopify, Xero, Google Sheets and Zapier, and offers an API with webhooks on Studio Pro, Sell & Deliver or as an add-on. Connecting the tools you use is part of setup.
Bring us a sample of your data
Book a free migration consultation. Bring a spreadsheet or a few tech packs and we'll walk through what moves, in what order, and how long it'll take.
Schedule Your Migration Consultation