The Row Margaux, Soft vs Original: The Spec Sheets Compared
Ask five different people how the Margaux and the Soft Margaux differ and you will hear five confident, conflicting answers. The confusion is wholly 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. Below is a specification-led comparison instead of an impression-led one, putting measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices side by side 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. Any figure that is not reliably documented is flagged as such rather than invented, as 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 comes next.
Two Bags Under a Name Through a Complicated 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. Related but specified separately, the Soft Margaux arrived with its own construction details and its own product pages. The original was withdrawn from third-party retailers during 2025, and the brand’s own webstore now presents the Soft Margaux and the Margaux Shoulder in its place. Widely reported as discontinued, it has never been officially confirmed as such by the brand, and the distinction is not pedantry when you are deciding what to pay on rowbag.org/tote-bags the secondary market. In plain terms, the Soft Margaux is the one you can buy new and the original is now a resale proposition. Comparing the two therefore means setting a current product against an archive one, which alters how much weight the specification differences deserve.
The Specifications, Side by Side
The difference shows most cleanly when the features the Soft version adds are isolated and checked one by one. There are five of them, and together they change how the bag behaves in daily use rather than how it looks from across a street. Protective metal feet keep the base off the ground. An interior toggle closure finally gives the open-top shape a way to close. Belted side gussets make the profile adjustable, cinched or released. A deep cavity becomes something organised once a zip pocket and card slots are added. 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 | Fitted as standard | Absent from the specification |
| Interior toggle closure | Included | Not part of the specification |
| Belted side gussets | Included | Absent from the specification |
| Zip pocket | On the 12 | Not in the specification |
| Card slots | One in the 10, two in the 12 | Not specified |
| Observed 2026 pricing | $3,650 and $4,350 | Available on resale only |
The Materials and What Lines Them
The Soft Margaux 10 and 12 are both listed as 100 percent calfskin in a matte grained finish, and both are lined in cotton herringbone. A lot about the brand’s priorities sits in that lining, because cotton herringbone inside is a textile decision rather than a branding one, holding shape without 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. The wider family covers 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. On the brand’s own product pages, Made in Italy is given for the Soft Margaux 10 and 12 and for the Margaux Shoulder 12. Suede and canvas versions read different in the hand and, more importantly, behave differently on resale.
Buckles, Fittings and Handles
Hardware on the Soft Margaux is palladium-plated and 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. 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. 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 name’s number gives nothing more than the bag’s width in inches, and that 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. 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. 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.
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. The family therefore sits in the collection’s top band, alongside 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. 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. 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. This is not investment advice, and it is worth remembering that canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions discount instead of appreciating.
Which Version to Buy
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. 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 appear at that size. Opt for the Margaux Shoulder 12 when the arm rather than the hand is how you carry, as its tubular handles and narrowed gussets exist for that purpose. Chase 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. If resale matters, buy black or neutral calfskin, and if it does not, buy whatever colour you like.
- Decide hand-carry or shoulder first, because that splits Soft from Shoulder immediately
- Then size — the 10 for occasion carry, the 12 for daily use
- Material follows, and remember that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
- Only then consider an original on the secondary market
