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The Row Margaux: How the Soft Margaux and the Original Differ, 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. 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. What follows is specification-led rather than impression-led — measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices, ranged against each other line by line. The material here rests on what the brand states on its product pages plus prices observed in the market in 2026, which remain 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. 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 original Margaux is the flagship on which the brand built its handbag reputation, an unlined-looking tote that derives 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. 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. The comparison is thus between a current product and an archive one, and that changes the weight the specification differences should carry.

Two the row handbags mini top handle Spec Sheets, One Table

The clearest way to see the difference is to isolate the features the Soft version adds and check them one at a time. Five features in all, and collectively they alter how the bag behaves in daily use rather than how it reads from across a street. Protective metal feet keep the base off the ground. The open-top shape acquires a way to shut thanks to an interior toggle closure. Belted side gussets allow the profile to be cinched in or let out. A deep cavity becomes something organised once a zip pocket and card slots are added. The table lays them out with observed 2026 figures for the versions still sold new.

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. 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 introducing the plastic feel of a coated logo jacquard. The Margaux Shoulder 12 goes a step further, lining the bag in 100 percent lambskin — 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 as well. Suede and canvas versions read different in the hand and, more importantly, behave differently on resale.

Hardware, Buckles and Handles

On the Soft Margaux the hardware is palladium-plated, matte rather than polished in finish, consistent 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 rather than decorative, since they are what let 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 abandons that arrangement for elongated tubular handles and narrowed gusseted side panels, designed from the outset to sit under the arm. For one The Row bag that carries hands-free without a strap, the answer is the Shoulder and not the Soft.

What the Size Numbers Actually Tell You

The number in the name is simply the width of the bag in inches, which makes the 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 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 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. 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

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. 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 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. One major resale authenticator sets new Margaux bags in the $5,000 to $9,000 range, and that is a useful sanity check, because 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 Suits 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. Choose the 10 if you carry little and want the shape at its most sculptural, and the 12 if you want a working bag, since the second card slot and the zip pocket only appear at that size. Take the Margaux Shoulder 12 if you carry under the arm rather than in the hand, since its tubular handles and narrowed gussets are built for exactly that. Track down 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 whatsoever, so verification comes down to stitching, hand-painted edges, stamp placement and the weight and finish of the hardware. Buy black or neutral calfskin if resale matters to you, and buy whatever colour you like if it does not.

1. Decide hand-carry or shoulder first, because that splits Soft from Shoulder immediately
2. Then fix size, with the 10 for occasion carry and the 12 for daily use
3. Then choose material, mindful that canvas and seasonal colours discount on resale
4. Only after that should an original on the secondary market be considered