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The Row Margaux: How the Soft Margaux and the Original Differ, Spec by Spec

Ask five people what the difference is between the Margaux and the Soft Margaux and you will get five confident and contradictory answers. It is understandable confusion, given that the two share a name, a silhouette and a set of signature buckles, and that the shopping situation around them changed sharply in 2025. This is a specification-led comparison, not an impression-led one, setting measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices against each other line by line. The material here rests on what the brand states on its product pages plus prices observed in the market in 2026, which remain observations rather than an official price list. If a figure is not reliably documented, that is flagged here instead of guessed at, because the Margaux is the single most misquoted bag in the label’s catalogue. The short version is that the Soft is not a cheaper or lazier Margaux; it is a more equipped one. The longer version is set out below.

One Name, Two Bags, and a Complicated Year

The original Margaux is the flagship the brand built its handbag reputation on, an unlined-looking tote whose structure derives from leather thickness and panel shaping rather than from stiffeners. The Soft Margaux entered as a related but separately specified bag, carrying its own construction details and its own product pages. During 2025 the original was withdrawn from third-party retailers, and the brand’s own webstore now lists the Soft Margaux and the Margaux Shoulder rather than the original. Its discontinuation has been widely reported, though the brand has never officially confirmed it, and that distinction is not pedantry when you are settling what to pay on the secondary market. In practice this means the Soft Margaux is the version available new, while the original has become a resale proposition. saint laurent bags Anyone comparing the two is therefore comparing a current product against an archive one, which changes how the specification differences should be weighed.

The Spec Sheet, Compared Side by Side

Isolating the features the Soft version adds and checking them one at a time is the cleanest way to see the difference. Five of them exist, and as a group they change daily behaviour rather than how the bag looks from across a street. Protective metal feet hold the base away from the ground. The open-top shape gets a way to shut thanks to an interior toggle closure. Belted side gussets allow the profile to be cinched in or let out. Adding a zip pocket and card slots turns a deep cavity into an organised interior. These are set out in the table with the observed 2026 figures for the versions sold new.

Materials, Inside and Out

The Soft Margaux 10 and 12 are each listed as 100 percent calfskin in a matte grained finish, with cotton herringbone lining in both. The lining choice reveals plenty about the brand’s priorities: a cotton herringbone interior is a textile decision, not a branding one, and it holds shape without adding the plastic feel of a coated logo jacquard. Further up, the Margaux Shoulder 12 is lined in 100 percent lambskin, softer and more easily marked and considerably more expensive to work with. Across the wider family the exteriors include grained calfskin, saddle calfskin, suede, canvas paired with leather, and nylon, so a Margaux is not automatically a smooth-leather bag. Made in Italy is stated on the brand’s own product pages for the Soft Margaux 10 and 12, and for the Margaux Shoulder 12 as well. Suede and canvas versions read different in the hand and, more importantly, behave differently on resale.

Hardware, Buckles and Handles

On the Soft Margaux the hardware is palladium-plated, matte rather than polished in finish, matching the rest of the collection. The signature element on any Margaux is the pair of adjustable side buckles, and on genuine examples those buckles are engraved, as are the base feet where feet are fitted. The buckles are functional, not decorative, because they are what allows the belted gussets to change the width of the bag. The Soft Margaux 10 and 12 both run a 5-inch handle drop, which is a hand-carry or crook-of-the-elbow measurement rather than a shoulder one, and both include a removable shoulder strap to cover the difference. The Margaux Shoulder 12 replaces that arrangement entirely with elongated tubular handles and narrowed gusseted side panels, so it is designed from the start to sit under the arm. If you want a single The Row bag that works hands-free without a strap, the Shoulder answers that rather than the Soft.

Sizes, and What the Numbers Mean

The number in the name is only the width of the bag in inches, which makes the family easier to navigate than most. The Soft Margaux 10 measures in at 10 x 7 x 7.5 inches, genuinely compact with an unusual amount of depth for the footprint. The Soft Margaux 12 measures 12 x 9 x 7.5 inches, keeping the same depth while adding two inches of width and two of height, and it is the size most buyers settle on for daily use. The Margaux Shoulder 12 comes in at 14.75 x 9 x 5 inches, which makes it the widest and shallowest of the three despite the 12 in its name, as the number refers to the bag’s stated size rather than its maximum external span. A Soft Margaux 15 is in circulation, while a Margaux 17 in a leather-and-canvas execution has been carried by Selfridges. Neither of those two has a retail price that can be verified, so treat any figure quoted for them as an asking price rather than a documented one.

Prices Now, and What Resale Is Doing

In observed 2026 market pricing the Soft Margaux 10 sits at $3,650 and the Soft Margaux 12 at $4,350, with the Margaux Shoulder 12 at $4,900. Those figures put the whole family in the collection’s top band, next to the India and Agnes top handles and the Marlo totes. The secondary market picture is an unusual one: the Rebag CLAIR 2025 report recorded the Margaux Tote at 107 percent value retention, inside a brand-level figure of 97 percent that lifted the label into the report’s unicorn tier for the first time. Looser secondary figures agree, with the Margaux reported to sell frequently at around 40 percent above retail, Fashionphile resale reported up roughly 44 percent year on year, and The RealReal reporting pre-owned Margaux sales averaging about 15 percent over original retail. A major resale authenticator puts new Margaux bags in the $5,000 to $9,000 range, a useful sanity check, since anything advertised in the hundreds is almost certainly counterfeit. None of this is investment advice, and it is worth remembering that canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions discount rather than appreciate.

Which Version Belongs in Your Wardrobe

Want the bag you can really purchase new, with a warranty of availability and the fuller specification? The Soft Margaux is the straightforward answer. Choose the 10 if you carry little and want the shape at its most sculptural, and the 12 if you want a working bag, since the second card slot and the zip pocket only appear at that size. Take the Margaux Shoulder 12 if you carry under the arm rather than in the hand, since its tubular handles and narrowed gussets are built for precisely that. Pursue the original on resale only if you specifically want the archive version and you are comfortable buying without metal feet, a toggle closure or interior organisation. Whatever you pick, note that the brand runs no public authenticity coding system at all, so verification comes down to stitching, hand-painted edges, stamp placement and the weight and finish of the hardware. Where resale matters, black or neutral calfskin is the buy, and where it does not, buy the colour you actually want.

1. Settle hand-carry or shoulder first, since that splits Soft from Shoulder immediately
2. Then size: the 10 for occasion carry, the 12 for daily use
3. Then material, remembering that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
4. Only after that should an original on the secondary market be considered