Polo Ralph Lauren Multicolor Shorts Collection Review: A Seated Working Day, a Rinse-and-Dry Clock and the Beach Claim Under Test

The listing for this Polo Ralph Lauren shorts collection is unusually specific about one thing and silent about another. It tells you the fabric is thin, non-stretch polyester with a 3D-printed allover motif, a straight hem and a drawstring waist, sold in blue, orange, red, yellow, navy, white and black from S through 5XL at $6.27. It does not tell you what the waist does after six hours in a chair, or how long a soaked pair takes to come back dry — and those are the two questions that decide whether a beach short earns its space in a bag. So that is what we tested.

What we ordered and what arrived

We placed one order for three pairs — S, XXL and 5XL — to cover the ends and the middle of the stated size run. All three arrived in the same carton, each in its own drawstring-waist construction, with the print motif running across the full panel rather than sitting in a sewn-on patch. SKU 7720521196, listed at $6.27 against a $6.74 original price and marked in stock at the time of ordering.

One thing worth stating plainly: there is no verified buyer feedback attached to this exact listing. Our panel is the feedback. The brand-level picture is mixed and only partly relevant — reviews of the Ralph Lauren online store itself skew heavily negative at 1.6 out of 5 from 131 reviews, with cheap fabrics and incorrect sizing among the recurring complaints, while a Reddit r/FashionReps write-up of RL replica polos found the material close to retail. Neither of those describes this specific short, so we treated both as background caution rather than evidence about the garment in front of us.

The seated working day: what the waistband actually does

Each pair was worn for four full days inside the two-week window, and one of those days was a seated working day — desk, chair, stairs, no standing breaks beyond the usual. The drawstring waist is the whole story here. With no stretch in the polyester, the waistband does not give as you fold forward; it holds its shape and transfers the pressure to the drawstring channel. Panel members who tied the cord snug before sitting found the front edge digging by mid-afternoon, while those who tied it loose enough to slide a hand under the waist had no complaint. Our working note: set the drawstring standing up, then sit down for a minute before you commit to that tension.

Hem length sat mid-thigh on our 165 cm and 178 cm panel members and slightly higher on the 190 cm tester, which is what a straight-hem short of this length should do. The leg opening stayed wide enough for a full stride and did not ride up when sitting cross-legged.

The rinse-and-dry clock

This is where thin, non-stretch polyester earns its keep. We soaked one pair completely, wrung it by hand the way you would at a beach shower, and hung it on an indoor line at roughly 20°C with moderate humidity.

Pair	Wring-damp to touch-dry	Notes
S, yellow	41 minutes	Dry at the waistband first, last at the doubled hem
XXL, navy	54 minutes	Heavier panel, same order of drying
5XL, white	63 minutes	Longest because of fabric volume, not thickness

Under an hour for a soaked pair is a genuinely useful property for the beach use the listing claims, and it is the single strongest argument for the thin fabric. The doubled hem is the slow spot on every size — if you are packing one pair for a trip, that is the corner to feel before you assume it is dry.

Flat measurements after one cold wash

We measured flat before the first wear and again after one cold wash and line dry. These are single-sample numbers, and the listing itself states a 1–2 cm measurement tolerance, so treat them as a shape guide rather than a specification.

Size	Waist, flat, relaxed	Inseam	Leg opening	Change after wash
S	36 cm	15 cm	29 cm	−0.5 cm waist
XXL	45 cm	17 cm	33 cm	−0.5 cm waist
5XL	55 cm	18 cm	36 cm	−1.0 cm waist

That movement sits inside the tolerance the seller declares, so nothing here contradicts the listing. It does mean the waist you receive is the waist you should plan around, not a waist with room to shrink into. Because the drawstring is the only adjustment, ordering from a flat measurement of a short you already own is more reliable than ordering from a body measurement.

The sizing question the listing does not answer

Ralph Lauren publishes several fit profiles — Classic-Fit, Custom-Fit and Slim-Fit — and buyer-shared guidance circulating in Chinese resale forums notes that Classic-Fit runs roughly one size larger than typical domestic sizing while Custom-Fit sits closer to Asian body sizing. This listing names no fit profile. We asked and did not get a definitive answer before our order closed, so the size run from S to 5XL is wide but not self-explanatory. If you are between sizes, the flat waist numbers above are the better anchor.

Where the beach claim holds up, and where it stays a claim

The print survived a cold wash without visible cracking at the fold lines, and the straight hem stayed flat rather than curling. What we cannot tell you from one wash cycle is how seven separate colorways behave over a summer — the white in particular is the one to watch, since a thin white polyester panel over a dark swim brief will show what is underneath. Sand also worked into the hem stitching on our beach-day test and needed a second rinse, which is normal for a thin weave but worth knowing.

Care instructions are not stated on the listing. We cold-washed and line-dried, and would keep it there: thin polyester with a printed surface is not a candidate for a hot dryer on the evidence we have.