Have you ever tried to buy a Goyard Saint Louis from your sofa? The house is known for keeping its icons in its boutiques rather than in a checkout basket.
That’s a lot of mystery for a tote that Goyard says was designed as a beach bag. The PM weighs 280 grams, is unlined, and turns inside out when you’d rather not wear the chevrons.
Pre-owned, a Saint Louis PM is listed at $1,550 to $5,175. If you’ve already been down this road with a pricier bag, our guide to Hermès Birkin alternatives tackles the same problem one floor up.
So we went looking for totes that do the Saint Louis’s job: open, easy, and happy to carry a laptop, a sweater and a water bottle for years. Seven made the cut, from a Louis Vuitton icon to an Italian leather tote under $300.
Why you can trust Luxe Digital. We recommend bags we’d want to carry for years, and we say plainly when a pick wears more logo than the original. New prices come from each brand’s own US store and pre-owned prices from in-stock resale listings, both at the time of writing. Our HAPPY philosophy explains how we decide what’s worth buying.
GucciOphidia GG Tote
Coated GG Monogram canvas, long top handles and the Web stripe, bought new from Gucci at $1,980.
Mansur GavrielEveryday Soft Tote
Italian calf leather lined in lambskin, fits a 16-inch laptop, $895, with the brand's own resale marketplace behind it.
CuyanaClassic Easy Tote
An open-top Italian pebbled leather tote with no logo and no synthetic lining, for $298.
What makes a Saint Louis a Saint Louis?
The Saint Louis is an unlined canvas tote, and four details carry it.
The first is the canvas. Edmond Goyard created Goyardine in 1892, and its painted dots form a chevron that reads as a Y for Goyard. The house describes it as a coated blend of hemp, linen and cotton.
The second is the body. Goyard calls the Saint Louis “completely reversible”, so you can wear the canvas out or turn the plain side outward. It has two leather handles and a removable pouch tied to one of them.
The third is the weight. The PM measures 34 x 15 x 28 cm and weighs 280 grams. Goyard named it after King Louis IX.
The fourth is the house behind it. Maison Goyard was founded in Paris in 1853. Jean-Michel Signoles bought it in 1998, and it remains independent.
That gives us the test for every bag below. It has to be open or close to it, light enough to carry all day, and made in canvas or leather. It also has to keep looking right in ten years.
Buy the real one, pre-owned
If only the chevrons will do, buy a Saint Louis that already exists. A pre-owned Goyard Saint Louis keeps a well-made bag in use.
The resale market also shows you how the bag holds its value. In-stock PM listings on one large resale platform run from $1,550 to $5,175, and the larger GM from $1,195 to $4,460. Prices like those are the argument for buying one well: a Saint Louis you look after is one you can sell on when you’re done with it.
Best for: Owning the original, this week rather than someday.
The best Goyard Saint Louis alternatives
These seven totes each take on the Saint Louis’s job in their own name, and each one gives something up to do it.
1. Louis Vuitton Neverfull: The rival everyone weighs it against
You can’t shop for a Saint Louis for long without someone asking whether you’ve considered the Neverfull. Louis Vuitton launched it in 2007, and it answers the same brief: an open coated-canvas tote with a removable pouch.
Where it differs is the shape. Side laces let you cinch the Neverfull in or let it spread, and the trim is natural cowhide. You’ll find the rest of its story in our guide to the Louis Vuitton Neverfull.
New, the Neverfull MM in Monogram canvas costs $2,030 on Louis Vuitton’s US site, more than a pre-owned Saint Louis PM starts at. That’s why we’d shop pre-owned Louis Vuitton instead. We counted 245 Neverfulls listed on one resale platform, from $1,010 to $4,295. A bag that sells that readily second-hand is one you can pass on rather than throw out.
What we like
- Side laces and a removable pouch make it more adjustable than the Saint Louis
- Widely listed pre-owned, so you can choose your size and color
What we don't like
- More logo than the Goyardine chevrons
- New, it costs more than a pre-owned Saint Louis
Material: Monogram coated canvas with natural cowhide trim
Price against the Saint Louis: $1,010 to $4,295 pre-owned, or $2,030 new, against $1,550 and up for a pre-owned Saint Louis PM.
Best for: An open tote you can cinch in, if you’re happy to wear the monogram.
2. Coach City Tote in Signature Canvas: A monogram tote that snaps shut
Coach’s City Tote keeps the Saint Louis’s coated monogram canvas and adds a snap closure. The Coach City Tote comes in Coach’s Signature coated canvas with smooth leather trim.
The Signature print is as recognizable as any logo, so choose it because you like the pattern.
What we like
- A snap closure the Saint Louis doesn't have
- Coated Signature canvas with smooth leather trim
What we don't like
- The Signature print is as loud as a logo
Material: Coated Signature canvas with smooth leather trim
Best for: Commutes, when you love the canvas-tote look but want the top closed.
3. Tory Burch Ever-Ready Tote: A roomy canvas carryall
The Tory Burch Ever-Ready Tote is printed coated canvas with brass hardware, and the full-size version is generous. It measures 19.75 x 11 x 7.5 inches and takes a laptop up to 13 inches.
If you’d rather keep things smaller and zipped, the Small Ever-Ready Zip Tote measures 12 x 9.3 x 5 inches and comes with a removable zip pouch. The honest drawback is the trim, which is faux leather where the Saint Louis has real leather handles.
What we like
- Room for a 13-inch laptop in the full-size tote
- A small zip version, with a removable zip pouch, for lighter days
What we don't like
- Faux leather trim instead of leather handles
Material: Printed coated canvas with faux leather trim and brass hardware
Best for: Full work days, when a laptop is only half of what you carry.
4. Gucci Ophidia GG Tote: Heritage canvas, bought new
If you want coated monogram canvas and would rather buy it new, the Gucci Ophidia medium tote is priced above a pre-owned Saint Louis, at $1,980 on Gucci’s US site. The large tote is listed at the same price.
Gucci makes it in its GG Monogram coated fabric with long top handles. It carries the house’s signature Web stripe and a Double G emblem in a light gold-toned finish. Gucci introduced the Ophidia line in 2018, according to resale specialists.
It also holds its place on the resale market. One large platform listed 52 pre-owned Ophidia totes, from $600 to $2,845, so the tote you buy new today still has a second life ahead of it. Our guide to the best Gucci bags covers the rest of the house’s lineup.
Unlike the Saint Louis, it’s lined, in green cotton, so you can’t turn it inside out when you’re tired of the pattern.
What we like
- Coated monogram canvas, like the original
- The Web stripe gives it an identity of its own
What we don't like
- Priced above a pre-owned Saint Louis PM
- Lined, so not reversible
Material: GG Monogram coated fabric with a green cotton lining
Price against the Saint Louis: $1,980 new, against $1,550 and up for a pre-owned Saint Louis PM.
Best for: Buying a heritage canvas tote new, straight from the house.
5. Cuyana Classic Easy Tote: Quality over logo, under $300
Our editor tested Cuyana’s Easy Tote on trips and daily commutes and called it “easily the lightest everyday tote I own.” That was the zip version. The Cuyana Classic Easy Tote we’re picking here has an open top, like the Saint Louis, and costs $298. The Classic Easy Zipper Tote is $328.
Cuyana makes it in Italian pebbled leather in Turkey, with “no synthetic lining”, and drops the logo altogether. It measures 20.5 x 12.5 x 5 inches. That’s room for a 15 to 16-inch laptop, though the unlined interior means your laptop will want its own sleeve.
Looking after it is simple. Our editor wipes hers with a soft, dry or slightly damp cloth and stores it stuffed upright to keep its shape, and Cuyana suggests a deep clean once or twice a year. Read our hands-on Cuyana Easy Tote review for the full test.
What we like
- Italian leather with no logo to date it
- Fits a 16-inch laptop
What we don't like
- No padding for tech inside
Material: Italian pebbled leather, unlined
Price against the Saint Louis: $298, against $1,550 and up for a pre-owned Saint Louis PM.
Best for: Choose this if you want the Saint Louis’s ease in leather and would rather pay for quality than for a name.
6. Michael Kors Quinn Tote: Zipped and organized
The Michael Kors Quinn is the organized cousin on this list. Michael Kors lists the Quinn Large Pebbled Leather Tote at $259.50, with a zip top, a back zip pocket and two slip pockets on the front.
It measures 18.5 x 11 x 5.25 inches and is lined in polyester. Practical, yes, but a step down from the unlined canvas of the original.
What we like
- A zip top, a back zip pocket and two front pockets
- Pebbled leather for under $260
What we don't like
- Polyester lining
Material: Pebbled leather with a polyester lining
Price against the Saint Louis: $259.50 list, against $1,550 and up for a pre-owned Saint Louis PM.
Best for: Everyday errands, with everything zipped away.
7. Mansur Gavriel Everyday Soft Tote: Leather inside and out
The Mansur Gavriel Everyday Soft Tote answers the Saint Louis in leather. Mansur Gavriel makes it in Italian calf leather and lines it in Italian lambskin, so even the inside is leather.
It costs $895 on Mansur Gavriel’s own store, three times the Cuyana. For that you get a tote that fits a 16-inch laptop, with a 9.8-inch handle drop, in plain leather with no logo. That plainness is why we’d expect it to keep looking right long after this season.
Mansur Gavriel also runs its own resale marketplace, where you can “buy and sell pre-loved Mansur Gavriel products from verified sellers”. When you’re ready to let the bag go, the brand has somewhere for it to go next.
What we like
- Calf leather outside, lambskin inside
- A resale route run by the brand itself
What we don't like
- Three times the price of the Cuyana
Material: Italian calf leather with an Italian lambskin lining
Price against the Saint Louis: $895, against $1,550 and up for a pre-owned Saint Louis PM.
Best for: Choose this if you want one leather tote to carry for the next decade.
How we chose these
We ranked on the job first. The Saint Louis is an open, light, everyday tote, so every pick had to carry a working day without fuss.
Material came second. Coated canvas and leather made the list; stiff, structured bags didn’t. Value came third, measured against what a pre-owned Saint Louis costs rather than in the abstract.
Last, we asked how long each bag would keep looking right, and whether it had somewhere to go afterward. None of these copies Goyard’s name or pattern, and several of them already have a busy resale market of their own.
If none of the seven feels like the real thing, the real thing is still out there. A pre-owned Goyard Saint Louis is waiting for its next owner.
Frequently asked questions about Goyard Saint Louis alternatives
How much is a Goyard tote?
Where to buy a Goyard tote?
How much is a Goyard St Louis PM?
Can anyone recommend me something like the Goyard?
Products featured here are independently selected by our editors. If you buy through our retail links we may earn an affiliate commission — it never changes the price you pay, and it never decides our verdicts. Read our earnings disclaimer.
