Goyard Saint Louis GM

A beach bag named for a saint

Goyard's own description is disarmingly modest: the Saint Louis was initially designed as a beach bag. Turned inside out, with the coated Goyardine canvas on the inside, it could carry wet things home after a day at the shore. Its name refers to King Louis IX of France, who reigned from 1226 to 1270 and is the only French king canonized as a saint.

When it was first made is less clear. Two magazine accounts, one from a resale company's editorial site and one from a women's magazine, date the design to the 1930s. A resale site's history says the tote was introduced in the early 2000s, which may reflect when it caught on: the resale company's 2023 guide says the bag 'gained mainstream popularity in the early 2000s' on celebrities including Hilary Duff, Kim Kardashian, Pharrell Williams and Kanye West. Goyard, which rarely speaks publicly, does not give a date.

What is certain is that the Saint Louis became the house's signature. A 2026 guide calls it Goyard's best-known tote and 'the model most closely associated with the Goyard name.'

The canvas behind the bag

The Saint Louis is essentially a showcase for Goyardine, the canvas Edmond Goyard created in 1892. Goyard traces its business to Maison Martin, founded in 1792, and to Francois Goyard, an apprentice hired in 1845 who took over the shop in 1853 and gave it his name. His son Edmond, head of the house from 1885, wanted his name in the canvas itself, and Goyard says he was the first Paris trunk maker to sign a canvas that way.

The pattern is family history. The Goyards came from Clamecy in Burgundy, where the men worked as log drivers floating firewood to Paris. The dotted chevrons recall stacked logs and form a Y, the middle letter of Goyard. The cloth is linen and cotton; Goyard keeps the process confidential but says it involves a ground color followed by three layers of color applied by screen printing, which produces the slightly raised texture. The bags were once hand-painted; one magazine says hand-painting lasted until the early 2000s, and today only personalization is done by hand.

Goyard says production of Goyardine stopped after World War II and resumed only after Jean-Michel Signoles bought the house in 1998. He added colors to the historic black, which is why the Saint Louis now comes in red, orange, yellow, green, sky blue, navy, burgundy, gray, white and more. Accounts differ on the timing of the new colors: one says the late 1990s, another 2002.

The insider's tote

The Saint Louis rose to fame without advertising. A 2014 profile described Goyard as a house with zero advertising, no e-commerce and very few stockists, which told a reporter its official policy was not to speak to the press. A New York department store executive said Goyard had become 'a fashion must' in the previous 10 to 15 years, and a resale executive described its bags as easy, light and well made, with resale value 'because it's like an heirloom.' The same piece noted that a classic Goyard tote then ran $1,150.

Celebrities did the marketing. Reese Witherspoon has carried a Saint Louis painted with her initials, Hilary Duff has carried the bag since the late 2000s, Kylie Jenner carried one in 2012 and Kendall Jenner was photographed with a red one in June 2023, according to a 2024 magazine roundup. A 2022 account counted only six U.S. Goyard stores and said the brand did not sell online at the time; Goyard's U.S. website now has a page for the Saint Louis GM.

How to read a Saint Louis GM

Goyard describes the Saint Louis GM as made from unlined Goyardine canvas, extremely lightweight and entirely reversible: worn canvas side out, or inside out to show its linen and cotton weave. It measures 40 cm long, 20 cm wide and 32 cm high, with 19 cm handles, and weighs 390 g. It comes with a removable inside pouch and a leather Croc Universel fastener to keep contents in, and it is made in France.

Construction has known weak points. Owners have reported wear at the corners and handles that can crack where they meet the bag; one wrote that the Saint Louis is one of very few Goyard bags with resin inside the base of the handles and that replacing hers cost over $200. Goyard staff in Paris, she said, described it as a beach bag rather than a purse.

For authentication, a resale company's guide says current Goyard bags carry a production stamp that includes the year of production, and that genuine Goyardine reads 'E Goyard Honore Paris' within the print, with slight variation in the dots because the canvas is stenciled. Personalization is hand-painted: initials, stripes and other motifs, at extra cost and with a wait of weeks.

A tote that resells above retail

The Saint Louis GM's list price has climbed steadily. A late-2016 guide listed it at $1,375 in classic colors and $1,795 in special colors. A 2024 magazine put the GM at about $1,900, and a price guide dated January 31, 2025 listed it at $1,890 in the U.S., unchanged that year while other Goyard totes went up, against EUR 1,600 in Europe.

Resale is where the bag stands out. A resale company reported in 2023 that Saint Louis bags held on average 112 percent of their original retail price, tying for the best of any Goyard bag, that black examples sold for as much as colored ones despite their lower retail price, and that individual bags could bring almost double retail. A 2026 guide put typical secondary-market prices for the Saint Louis at $2,000 to $3,000. In October 2026 a black Saint Louis GM was offered on the U.S. resale market at $3,000.

Customized examples travel too. In 2021 a black Saint Louis GM XXL painted with the print of actor Shawn Yue's streetwear label sold in Hong Kong for charity as part of a two-bag lot, alongside a matching Anjou GM.

The template for a family

The Saint Louis became the pattern for Goyard's other totes. In 2015 the house introduced the Anjou, a reversible version with a calfskin face named for Saint Louis's brother, and in 2018 it added the Artois, a structured, zip-top tote. Even the Plumet crossbody, introduced in 2018, was inspired by the small pouch that comes with the Saint Louis.

Its staying power rests on a paradox: an open, unlined canvas bag, meant for the beach, from a house that sells it in few places and says almost nothing about it. That combination of discretion and recognizability is what made it, in one reporter's phrase, an insider's bag that 'doesn't scream luxury.'

The numbers

Dimensions

40 cm long x 20 cm wide x 32 cm high (maker's figures)

Handle height

19 cm

Weight

390 g

Material

Unlined Goyardine canvas (coated linen and cotton) with leather trim; reversible

Closure

Open top with a leather Croc Universel fastener; removable pouch

Sizes

PM, GM and XXL

Production quantity

Not published

Timeline

1. 1792

   Maison Martin, the business Goyard descends from, is founded in Paris.

2. 1853

   Francois Goyard takes over the shop and gives it his name.

3. 1892

   Edmond Goyard creates the Goyardine canvas.

4. 1930s

   The Saint Louis is designed as a beach bag, by two magazine accounts; Goyard gives no date.

5. 1998

   Jean-Michel Signoles buys Goyard and revives Goyardine production.

6. 2000s

   The Saint Louis gains mainstream popularity on celebrities.

7. 2012

   Kylie Jenner is photographed carrying a Saint Louis.

8. Sep 3, 2014

   A profile notes a classic Goyard tote costs $1,150 in the U.S.

9. 2015

   The year of the example this entry names; Goyard also announces the Anjou, a leather version of the Saint Louis.

10. Nov 10, 2016

    The Saint Louis GM lists at $1,375 in classic colors.

11. 2018

    Goyard introduces the Artois tote and the Plumet, a crossbody inspired by the Saint Louis pouch.

12. Sep 28, 2021

    A customized Saint Louis GM XXL from Shawn Yue's collection sells for charity in Hong Kong in a two-bag lot.

13. Oct 17, 2023

    A resale company reports Saint Louis bags hold 112% of retail on average.

14. Jan 31, 2025

    The Saint Louis GM lists at $1,890 in the U.S., unchanged for the year.

15. Oct 2026

    A black Saint Louis GM is offered on the U.S. resale market at $3,000.

The world in 1270

• 1270

  Louis IX, Saint Louis, dies after a reign that began in 1226.

• 1936

  Robert Goyard, Charles Ritz and Louis Boucheron set up the Comite Vendome for Paris luxury houses.

• 1938

  Tennis star Suzanne Lenglen dies, ending a rare Goyard canvas made in collaboration with her.

• 1939

  The Duke and Duchess of Windsor open their Goyard account.

• 2007

  Kanye West mentions his Goyard trunks in the song 'The Glory.'

• 2010

  Goyard publishes an art book in only 233 copies.

• Dec 12, 2015

  The UN climate conference at Le Bourget, near Paris, that produced the Paris Agreement concludes.

Price record

This is an asking price, not a sale. It is what a seller wanted on the date shown. Asking prices often sit above what buyers pay, but an ask is not a ceiling: a sale can land on either side of it. It is not a value.

By reference price, Goyard Saint Louis GM is number 59 of 100 in the handbags entries of the FLOAT 100. 19 of those 100 rest on a realized sale; the rest carry an asking price or a guide value, and each page says which. Rank within the FLOAT 100 itself (73 here) is editorial: how much an object defines its field, not price alone.

Did you know

• Goyard says the Saint Louis was designed as a beach bag: turned inside out, the coated canvas holds wet clothes.
• The GM weighs 390 grams, according to Goyard.
• The Goyardine chevrons are built from dots that recall stacked logs and form the Y in Goyard.
• In 2023 a resale company found Saint Louis bags held 112 percent of their original retail price on average.
• Black Saint Louis bags cost less new than colored ones but resell for about as much, one resale company reported.
• Goyard's later Plumet crossbody was inspired by the little pouch that comes with the Saint Louis.
• Goyard has told reporters its official policy is not to speak to the press.