If the world really is going to end this year then you don’t want to spend your last few swimming months looking like a mug in badly chosen shorts. Ralph Lauren, always on hand with a clothing solution, offers up these multicoloured striped shorts. They sit just above the knee, a good resting place for this kind of garment, and feature a selection of pockets. Oi Polloi has them.

Orlebar Brown brings forth their latest generation of their Bulldog and Setter shorts. Using new Nano-Tex fabric that dries even faster than the former, the Bulldog II and Setter II mix beach style with tech that keeps things drier. Nothing bothers us more than soggy bottoms.

Too early? Probably. We can dream though. And please only wear these by the pool, short shorts in town are a blight on humanity. (Liberty)

These shorts aren’t for everyone. We thought we’d get there before anyone else did. The ’setter’ shorts are the shortest of Orlebar Brown’s short collection, but we think that – assuming you can pull it off – they’ll look the best at the pool. We repeat, at the pool. There’s nothing more obscene than a man walking around town in ridiculously short shorts.

Orlebar Brown are a refreshingly old school company that have received a new school lick of paint. This much is obvious from the fact that they’ve got testimonials on their site when people stopped believing online testimonials ages ago. They’ve also collaborated with Monocle in the past, so if it’s good enough for the multi-accented one, it’s good enough for you. You can get this from The Shop at Bluebird or their website.

We recently reported about the on-going collaboration between Speedo and Comme des Garcons. Colette has now released two of the latest swim shorts in their online store.