The Row Margaux: Soft Margaux vs the Original, Specification by Specification
Ask five different people how the Margaux and the Soft Margaux differ and you will hear five confident, conflicting 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. Everything here is sourced from what the brand states on its product pages and from prices observed in the market in 2026, which are observations and not an official price list. If a figure is not reliably documented, that is noted 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 full version is below.
Two Bags, One Name, and One Confusing Year
The original Margaux is the flagship on which the brand built its handbag reputation, an unlined-looking tote that takes its structure from leather thickness and panel shaping rather than stiffeners. The Soft Margaux appeared as a related yet separately specified bag, with construction details and product pages of its own. During 2025 the original was pulled from third-party retailers, and the brand’s own webstore now leads with the Soft Margaux and the Margaux Shoulder rather than the original. Reports of its discontinuation are widespread, but no official confirmation has ever come from the brand, the row bag quilted tote bags and that difference counts rather than being pedantry when you are setting a price on the secondary market. In plain terms, the Soft Margaux is the one you can buy new and the original is now a resale proposition. Anyone comparing the two is therefore comparing a current product against an archive one, which changes how the specification differences should be weighted.
Side by Side on the Spec Sheet
The clearest way to see the difference is to isolate the features the Soft version adds and check them one at a time. There are five in total, and together they change how the bag behaves in daily use rather than how it appears from across a street. Protective metal feet keep the base off the ground. An interior toggle closure supplies the closing mechanism the open-top shape otherwise lacks. Belted side gussets make the profile adjustable, cinched or released. A zip pocket and card slots convert a deep cavity into something organised. The table sets these out with the observed 2026 figures for the versions sold new.
| Feature | Soft Margaux 10 and 12 | Original Margaux |
|---|---|---|
| Protective metal feet | Present | Not in the specification |
| Interior toggle closure | Fitted | Not specified |
| Belted side gussets | Present | Absent from the specification |
| Zip pocket | On the 12 only | Not in the specification |
| Card slots | One on the 10 and two on the 12 | Not part of the specification |
| Market price, observed 2026 | $3,650 and $4,350 | Resale market only |
The Materials and What Lines Them
Both the Soft Margaux 10 and 12 are stated as 100 percent calfskin in a matte grained finish, and both are lined in cotton herringbone. 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 bringing in 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. In the hand, suede and canvas versions read differently, and on resale they behave differently too.
Buckles, Fittings and Handles
Hardware on the Soft Margaux is palladium-plated, and it is finished matte rather than polished, in keeping with the rest of the collection. Any Margaux is marked by its pair of adjustable side buckles, and on genuine examples those buckles carry engraving, as do the base feet where feet are fitted. Purpose rather than decoration is the point of the buckles, as they are what enables the belted gussets to change the bag’s width. 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. Elongated tubular handles and narrowed gusseted side panels replace the arrangement entirely on the Margaux Shoulder 12, which is designed from the start to sit under the arm. If you want one The Row bag that works hands-free without a strap, the Shoulder is the answer rather than the Soft.
What the Size Numbers Actually Tell You
The number in the name is just the width of the bag in inches, which makes this family easier to navigate than most. At 10 x 7 x 7.5 inches, the Soft Margaux 10 is genuinely compact yet unusually deep for its footprint. The Soft Margaux 12 measures 12 x 9 x 7.5 inches, keeping the same depth while gaining two inches of width and two of height, and that is the size most buyers settle on for daily use. The Margaux Shoulder 12 measures 14.75 x 9 x 5 inches, so despite carrying a 12 in its name it is the widest and the shallowest of the three, because 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. No verifiable retail price exists for either, so read any figure quoted for them as an asking price and not a documented one.
The Money: Retail and Resale
On observed 2026 market pricing, the Soft Margaux 10 sits at $3,650, the Soft Margaux 12 at $4,350 and 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. Resale tells an unusual story, with the Rebag CLAIR 2025 report placing the Margaux Tote at 107 percent value retention as part of a brand-level 97 percent that lifted the label into the report’s unicorn tier for the first time. Softer 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. New Margaux bags are placed in the $5,000 to $9,000 range by a major resale authenticator, which makes a useful sanity check: anything advertised in the hundreds is almost certainly counterfeit. None of it amounts to investment advice, and canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions are worth remembering as the ones that discount rather than appreciate.
Which Version to Buy
The straightforward answer for anyone who wants the bag they can actually purchase new, with a warranty of availability and the fuller specification, is the Soft Margaux. Go for the 10 if you carry little and want the shape at its most sculptural, and the 12 if you want a working bag, because the second card slot and the zip pocket only appear at that size. Choose the Margaux Shoulder 12 if the way you carry a bag is under the arm rather than in the hand, because its tubular handles and narrowed gussets are built for exactly 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 the choice, the brand runs no public authenticity coding system of any kind, so verification comes down to stitching, hand-painted edges, stamp placement and the weight and finish of the hardware. If resale matters, buy black or neutral calfskin, and if it does not, buy whatever colour you like.
- Answer hand-carry or shoulder first of all, as it divides Soft from Shoulder immediately
- Then size: the 10 for occasion carry, the 12 for daily use
- Then material, remembering that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
- Consider an original on the secondary market only at that point