Handmade Italian Flats The Row Top Handle Bag

The Row Margaux: Soft Margaux vs the Original, Spec by Spec

Ask five different people how the Margaux and the Soft Margaux differ and you will hear five confident, 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. Below is a specification-led comparison in place of an impression-led one, putting measurements, materials, closures, linings and observed prices side by side line by line. The material here draws 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. Where a figure is not reliably documented, this article says so instead of guessing, because 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 is below.

Two Bags, One Name, and One Messy Year

An unlined-looking tote that takes its structure from leather thickness and panel shaping rather than stiffeners, the original Margaux is the flagship the brand’s handbag reputation was built on. 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 The original was withdrawn from third-party retailers during 2025, and the brand’s own webstore now presents the Soft Margaux and the Margaux Shoulder in its place. Its discontinuation has been widely reported, though the brand has never officially confirmed it, and that distinction is not pedantry when you are settling what to pay 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 bear.

Two Spec Sheets, Compared

The difference shows most cleanly when the features the Soft version adds are isolated and inspected one by one. Five features in all, and collectively they shift how the bag behaves in daily use rather than how it reads from across a street. The base https://therowbags.net/ is kept off the ground by protective metal feet. An interior toggle closure gives the open-top shape a way to shut. Belted side gussets allow the profile to be drawn in or let out. Adding a zip pocket and card slots turns a deep cavity into organised storage. These are set out in the table with the observed 2026 figures for the versions sold new.

The Materials and What Lines Them

The Soft Margaux 10 and 12 are each specified as 100 percent calfskin in a matte grained finish, with cotton herringbone lining in both. A good deal 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. 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. In the hand, suede and canvas versions read differently, and on resale they behave differently too.

Hardware, Buckles and Handles

Hardware on the Soft Margaux is palladium-plated and finished matte rather than polished, consistent with the rest of the collection. What signs 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. Those buckles do real work rather than decoration: they are what lets the belted gussets adjust 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 one The Row bag that works hands-free without a strap, the Shoulder is the answer rather than the Soft.

The Sizes and the Numbers Behind Them

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 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 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 despite 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. Retail prices for those two cannot be verified, so take any quoted figure as an asking price rather than a documented one.

What Each One Costs and What Resale Is Doing

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 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. One major resale authenticator puts 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 this is investment advice, and it is worth remembering that canvas, nylon and seasonal-colour versions discount rather than appreciate.

Which Version Belongs in Your Wardrobe

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. 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. 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 choose, remember there is no public authenticity coding system from the brand at all, which leaves verification 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; buy whatever colour you like if it does not.

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