Soft Margaux vs the Original Margaux at The Row, Spec by Spec
Ask five people what the difference is between the Margaux and the Soft Margaux and you will get five assured, 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, 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. Where a figure is not reliably documented, this article says so rather than guessing, since 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 longer version is set out 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 in place of stiffeners. The Soft Margaux appeared as a related yet separately specified bag, with construction details and product pages of its own. In 2025 the original disappeared from third-party retailers, and the brand’s own webstore now shows the Soft Margaux and the Margaux Shoulder instead of 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 working out 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. The comparison is thus https://therowhandbags.net/ between a current product and an archive one, and that changes the weight the specification differences should carry.
The Spec Sheet, Side by Side
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 hold the base away from the ground. An interior toggle closure supplies the closing mechanism the open-top shape otherwise lacks. Belted side gussets let the profile be cinched or released. Adding a zip pocket and card slots turns a deep cavity into an organised interior. The table sets these out with the observed 2026 figures for the versions sold new.
| Spec | Soft Margaux 10 and 12 | Original Margaux |
|---|---|---|
| Protective metal feet | Included | Not in the specification |
| Interior toggle closure | Present | Not specified |
| Belted side gussets | Included | Not in the specification |
| Zip pocket | On the 12 | Not in the specification |
| Card slots | One in the 10, two in the 12 | Not in the specification |
| Observed 2026 pricing | $3,650 and $4,350 | Available on resale only |
Materials, Outside and In
The Soft Margaux 10 and 12 are each given 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. 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. Exterior materials across the wider family include grained calfskin, saddle calfskin, suede, canvas paired with leather, and nylon, which means 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. In the hand, suede and canvas versions read differently, and on resale they behave differently too.
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. 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. Those buckles do real work rather than decoration: they are what lets the belted gussets 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 just the width of the bag in inches, which makes this family easier to follow than most. The Soft Margaux 10 measures 10 x 7 x 7.5 inches, a genuinely compact bag carrying unusual depth 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 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 denotes the bag’s stated size rather than 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 them has a verifiable retail price, so any figure quoted for them should be treated 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 is $3,650 and the Soft Margaux 12 is $4,350, while the Margaux Shoulder 12 is $4,900. The family therefore sits 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 lifted the label into the report’s unicorn tier for the first time. The softer secondary numbers say the same thing — frequent Margaux sales reported 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 keeping in mind that canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions discount rather than appreciate.
Which Version to Choose
If what you want is the bag you can actually buy new, with a warranty of availability and the fuller specification, the Soft Margaux is the straightforward answer. Opt 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. Go after the original on resale only when you specifically want the archive version and are prepared to buy 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.
- Answer hand-carry or shoulder first of all, as it divides Soft from Shoulder immediately
- Then fix size, with the 10 for occasion carry and the 12 for daily use
- Then choose material, mindful that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
- Consider an original on the secondary market only at that point