Polo Ralph Lauren Multicolor Shorts Collection Review: A Concrete-Step Rub Test and 200 Drawstring Cycles

Most cheap shorts fail at the two places nobody photographs: the seat, where you actually sit down, and the waist channel, where the drawstring does its only job. So for this check we put the Polo Ralph Lauren multicolor shorts collection (SKU 7720521196, listed at $6.27 against an original $6.74 and in stock at the time of ordering) through an abrasion run and a closure cycle count before we wrote a single line about the print.

The listing facts are narrow and specific: a straight-leg athletic cut, thin non-stretch polyester, an all-over 3D-printed motif, a drawstring waist, seven colourways (blue, orange, red, yellow, navy, white, black), sizes S through 5XL, a stated 1–2CM measurement tolerance, and a 2026 spring release aimed at beach and summer wear. No independent buyer feedback exists for this exact item, so our bench notes are the record.

How the bench ran

We ordered two pairs in size L, one in navy and one in yellow, so we could compare a dark ground and a light ground on the same print process. Each parcel was opened at the bench, logged and photographed before anything was worn. Ordering, confirmation, dispatch and delivery days were recorded from our own tracking rather than a carrier estimate.

Our testing team then ran two dedicated tests across five wear days: forty firm rubs of the seat panel across a roughened concrete step, and two hundred full open-and-cinch cycles of the drawstring through its eyelets. Between passes we bagged and tagged each pair so scuffs and fray could be attributed to a specific test.

The comparison table we build before drafting

Our reviews start with the table, not the prose. We picked one reference at a similar price — a high-street cotton-twill short at $22 — and one clearly above it, a $95 nylon trail short. Everything below is a bench observation on our pairs, not a specification claim.

Check	Polo RL multicolor short ($6.27)	Cotton-twill short ($22)	Nylon trail short ($95)
Fabric hand	Thin, papery, no give	Dry, slight stiffness, no give	Light ripstop, slight mechanical stretch
Seat after 40 concrete rubs	Surface sheen dulled, print intact, no thread break	Visible pilling at the seat seam	Light abrasion marks, no structural damage
Drawstring after 200 cycles	Knot held, eyelets showed mild fray at cycle 140	Cord flattened, kept holding	Cord and toggle unchanged
Drying after a soak	Dry to the touch in roughly an hour on a line	Several hours	Fast, similar to the RL pair
Size run	S–5XL	S–XXL	S–XL

Abrasion: forty rubs on a concrete step

This is where thin polyester usually announces itself, and the result was better than the fabric weight suggested. On both pairs the print stayed continuous across the seat panel. What changed was the finish: the yellow pair lost a little surface brightness where it contacted the step, and the navy pair picked up a faint grey bloom that brushed off. Neither showed a broken yarn or a lifted print edge.

We would read that as a print process that sits in the fibre rather than on top of it — consistent with the listing's 3D-print description, and the reason we would not expect the motif to flake off in a normal summer of sitting on walls and benches. It is not a durability guarantee. A concrete step is a coarse, repeatable test; a rough poolside wall, repeated over a season, is a slower version of the same thing.

Closure behaviour: two hundred drawstring cycles

The waist channel is where a $6.27 short earns or loses its place. Ours opened and closed cleanly for the first hundred cycles, with the cord running without snagging. Around cycle 140 the eyelet on the yellow pair began to show light fraying where the cord turns, and by cycle 200 that spot had softened into a small fibre bloom. The knot itself never slipped, including a deliberate wet test after a soak.

The practical read: the drawstring holds, the eyelets are the wear point. If you plan to cinch these hard, knot them once and leave them; the more you re-tie in the same spot, the faster that eyelet edge works loose.

Where the thin fabric shows itself

No stretch plus a thin hand is a specific combination, and it behaves exactly as it reads. There is no give at the thigh when you squat, so the fabric slides rather than flexes, and the straight hem sits slightly away from the leg rather than clinging. On a beach that is an advantage: nothing sticks, nothing holds water, and the short is dry to the touch in about an hour on a line.

It also means the short has no structure. Held up to a window, the lighter colourways read thin. We would not treat these as a substitute for a cotton-twill short you want to wear to a lunch, and we would not expect warmth from them on a cool evening.

Sizing and the tolerance band

The run is genuinely wide — S, M, L, XL, XXL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL — and the listing states a 1–2CM tolerance on measurements. That band is wider than the difference between some adjacent sizes in a drawstring waist, so the size label alone is a weak guide. Our two size L pairs matched each other closely at the waist and hem, which is reassuring on consistency but says nothing about how your pair will land.

Brand-level Ralph Lauren guidance is worth knowing here: the label runs several fit profiles, with Classic-Fit sitting roughly a size larger than typical domestic sizing and Custom-Fit closer to Asian body sizing. This listing does not name a profile. Ask the seller which one applies and request flat measurements for your size before committing — the drawstring means a waistband a centimetre or two off is wearable, but leg opening and inseam are not adjustable.

What to check when the parcel lands

1. Lay the short flat and measure the waist relaxed and pulled, plus the inseam, against the seller's numbers for your size.
2. Check print registration at the side seam and the hem, where a 3D print most often shows a mismatch.
3. Run the drawstring end to end once and look at the eyelet edge before you cut or knot anything.
4. Confirm the colourway against the variant image set — seven options share one shape, and the light grounds read thinner than the dark.

Price and availability move on this listing, so treat the $6.27 we paid as a snapshot rather than a fixed figure. The short itself is a sensible warm-weather buy for a wide size range; the honest caveats are fabric weight and an unnamed fit profile, both of which you can resolve with the seller before the parcel ships.

Bench note: the print outlasted our expectations and the eyelets did not. That is a fair trade at this price, provided you know which one you are buying.