The Row Margaux: Soft Margaux vs the Original, Spec by Spec
Ask five people to describe the difference between the Margaux and the Soft Margaux and you will get five confident, contradictory answers. The confusion is entirely understandable: the two bags share a name, a silhouette and a set of signature buckles, and the shopping situation around them changed sharply in 2025. What follows is specification-led rather than impression-led — measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices, placed against each other line by line. Everything here comes from what the brand states on its product pages and from prices observed in the market in 2026, which are observations rather than an official price list. Any figure that is not reliably documented is flagged as such rather than assumed, as the Margaux is the single most misquoted bag in the label’s catalogue. In short, the Soft is not a cheaper or lazier Margaux; it is the more equipped of the two. The long version comes next.
Two Bags, One Name, and One Messy Year
The original Margaux is the flagship the brand built its handbag reputation on, an unlined-looking tote whose structure comes from leather thickness and panel shaping rather than from stiffeners. The Soft Margaux arrived as a related but separately specified bag, carrying its own construction details and its own product pages. During 2025 the original was removed from third-party retailers, and the brand’s own webstore now lists 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 tells rather than being pedantry when you are setting a price on the secondary market. Practically, this means the Soft Margaux is the version you can buy new, while the original is now a resale proposition. Anyone comparing the two is therefore comparing a current product against an archive one, which changes https://laurentoutlet.com/ 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. 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 keep the base off the ground. The open-top shape gains a way to shut thanks to an interior toggle closure. Belted side gussets let the profile be cinched or released. A zip pocket and card slots transform a deep cavity into something organised. The table below sets these out alongside the observed 2026 figures for the versions sold new.
| Feature | Soft Margaux 10 and 12 | Original Margaux |
|---|---|---|
| Protective metal feet | Included | Not in the specification |
| Interior toggle closure | Fitted | Not in the specification |
| Belted side gussets | Fitted | Not part of the specification |
| Zip pocket | On the 12 | Not part of the specification |
| Card slots | One in the 10, two in the 12 | Not part of the specification |
| Market price, observed 2026 | $3,650 and $4,350 | Secondary market only |
Materials and Linings
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 great deal 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 goes further and lines the bag in 100 percent lambskin, which is softer, more easily marked and considerably more expensive to work with. Across the wider family the exterior materials 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. The suede and canvas versions read differently in the hand and, critically, perform differently on resale.
The Hardware, the Buckles and the Handles
Hardware on the Soft Margaux is palladium-plated and finished matte rather than polished, in keeping with the rest of the collection. What marks any Margaux is the pair of adjustable side buckles; on genuine examples they are engraved, and so are the base feet where feet are fitted. Utility rather than decoration is the point of the buckles, as they are what enables the belted gussets to change the bag’s width. 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. The Margaux Shoulder 12 discards that arrangement for elongated tubular handles and narrowed gusseted side panels, designed from the outset 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.
Sizes, and What the Numbers Actually Mean
Because the number in the name is simply the bag’s width in inches, the family is easier to navigate than most. The Soft Margaux 10 measures 10 x 7 x 7.5 inches, which is a genuinely compact bag with an unusual amount of depth 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 land on for daily use. At 14.75 x 9 x 5 inches, the Margaux Shoulder 12 is the widest and shallowest of the three notwithstanding the 12 in its name, because that number refers to the bag’s stated size and not its maximum external span. A Soft Margaux 15 is in circulation, and 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.
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. That places the entire family in the collection’s top band, alongside the India and Agnes top handles and the Marlo totes. On the secondary market the picture is unusual: the Rebag CLAIR 2025 report put the Margaux Tote at 107 percent value retention, part of a brand-level figure of 97 percent that pushed the label into the report’s unicorn tier for the first time. Softer secondary figures point the same way, 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 places new Margaux bags in the $5,000 to $9,000 range, which is a useful sanity check: anything advertised in the hundreds is almost certainly counterfeit. None of this is investment advice, and it is worth bearing in mind that canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions discount rather than appreciate.
Which Version to Buy
Want the bag you can actually purchase new, with a warranty of availability and the fuller specification? The Soft Margaux is the straightforward answer. Go for the 10 if you carry little and want the most sculptural version of the shape, and for the 12 if you want a working bag, since the second card slot and the zip pocket exist only 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. Only pursue the original on resale if the archive version is specifically what you want and you are comfortable going 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 genuinely want.
- 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 choose material, mindful that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
- Only then consider an original on the secondary market