The Row Margaux: Soft Margaux vs the Original, Point by Point
Put the difference between the Margaux and the Soft Margaux to five people and five confident, contradictory answers come back. The confusion is understandable, because the two bags share a name, a silhouette and a set of signature buckles, and because the shopping situation around them moved sharply in 2025. What follows is a specification-led comparison rather than an impression-led one: measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices, set against each other line by line. All of it comes from what the brand states on its own product pages and from prices observed in the market in 2026 — observations, not 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 long version is below.
Two Bags, One Name, One Complicated Year
The brand built its handbag reputation on the original Margaux, an unlined-looking tote whose structure comes from leather thickness and panel shaping instead of stiffeners. The Soft Margaux arrived as a related but separately specified bag, with its own construction details and its own product pages. Over the course of 2025 the original was pulled from third-party retailers, and the brand’s own webstore now shows 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, and that difference counts rather than being pedantry when you are setting a price on the secondary market. What that means in practice is simple: the Soft Margaux is buyable new, and the original is 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 ranked.
The Spec Sheet, Laid Out Side by Side
The difference shows most cleanly when the features the Soft version adds are isolated and examined one by one. Five of them exist, and as a group they change daily behaviour stlaurentbag.com rather than how the bag looks from across a street. The base is kept off the ground by protective metal feet. An interior toggle closure gives the open-top shape a way to close. The profile can be cinched or released because of the belted side gussets. A zip pocket and card slots turn a deep cavity into something organised. The table arranges them with observed 2026 figures for the versions still sold new.
| Specification | Soft Margaux 10 and 12 | Original Margaux |
|---|---|---|
| Protective metal feet | Present | Not specified |
| Interior toggle closure | Present | Absent from the specification |
| Belted side gussets | Fitted as standard | Not part of the specification |
| Zip pocket | Fitted on the 12 | Not part of the specification |
| Card slots | A single slot on the 10, two on the 12 | Not part of the specification |
| Market price, observed 2026 | $3,650 and $4,350 | Available on resale only |
Materials, Inside and Out
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. That lining choice tells you a fair amount about the brand’s priorities, because a cotton herringbone interior is a textile decision rather than a branding one, and it holds shape without adding the plastic feel of a coated logo jacquard. The Margaux Shoulder 12 takes it further with a 100 percent lambskin lining, which is softer, marks more readily and costs considerably more to work with. The wider family encompasses grained calfskin, saddle calfskin, suede, canvas paired with leather, and nylon on the outside, so no one should assume a Margaux is 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 differently in the hand and, importantly, behave differently on resale.
Hardware and How You Carry It
On the Soft Margaux the hardware is palladium-plated, matte rather than polished in finish, in line with the rest of the collection. The signature element on any Margaux is its pair of adjustable side buckles, and on genuine examples the 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. Both the Soft Margaux 10 and 12 run a 5-inch handle drop, 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 a single The Row bag that works hands-free without a strap, the Shoulder answers that rather than the Soft.
The Sizes and the Numbers Behind Them
The number in the name is just the width of the bag in inches, which makes this family easier to follow 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 runs 12 x 9 x 7.5 inches, same depth with two inches more width and two more of height, and that is the size most buyers choose for daily use. At 14.75 x 9 x 5 inches, the Margaux Shoulder 12 is the widest and shallowest of the three in spite of the 12 in its name, because that number refers to the bag’s stated size and not its maximum external span. There is a Soft Margaux 15 in circulation, and Selfridges has carried a Margaux 17 in a leather-and-canvas execution. No verifiable retail price exists for either, so read any figure quoted for them as an asking price and not a documented one.
What They Cost and How Resale Responds
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. The family therefore sits in the collection’s top band, beside 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 point in the same direction: the Margaux is reported to sell frequently at around 40 percent above retail, Fashionphile resale is reported up roughly 44 percent year on year, and The RealReal reports 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.
Choosing Your Version
If you want the bag you can actually purchase new, with a warranty of availability and the fuller specification, the Soft Margaux is the straightforward answer. Pick the 10 for light carrying and the shape at its most sculptural; pick the 12 for a working bag, as the second card slot and the zip pocket only show up at that size. The Margaux Shoulder 12 is the pick if your carry is under the arm rather than in the hand, because tubular handles and narrowed gussets are built for exactly that. Go after the original on resale only when you specifically want the archive version and are willing to buy without metal feet, a toggle closure or interior organisation. Whatever the choice, the brand runs no public authenticity coding system whatsoever, 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 genuinely want.
- Start with hand-carry or shoulder, because that separates Soft from Shoulder straight away
- Then size — the 10 for occasion carry, the 12 for daily use
- Then choose material, mindful that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
- And only then weigh an original on the secondary market
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