Committee Member: George Esquivel
Los Angeles - Designer
Currently residing in Cypress, Cal., shoe guru George Esquivel loves his career designing new products and collections—and the new and interesting people he gets to meet. Though he has traveled a fair bit of the world, his favorite vacations remain fairly close to home. “When the kids were younger,” he says, “our family would rent an RV and drive up the coast to Santa Barbara and stay in the RV for 5-7 days.”
My favorite sport to watch used to be our kids playing soccer. Our son played until he was 20 (club, high school and then college) and our daughter played until she was 17 (club and high school).
I really enjoy mountain biking. We have some amazing trails all within 45 minutes of my house.
My favorite dinner is a secret, because not everything needs to be shared! But these are some my all-time great ones:
- Years back when I was traveling to Milan every month, Diego Rossetti of Fratelli Rossetti introduced me to Trattoria del Pescatore. He ordered the Catalana lobster salad, and game over—I fell in love!
- On a trip to Dubai, I asked the group I was with to take me to the best Lebanese restaurant they knew. Everything was so good and I ate so much of the beginning courses that I got too full to taste any of the meat dishes or desserts.
- While I was in Paris during Fashion week , maybe 4 or 5 years ago, I was with a group of Americans led by one very cool French man named Guillaume Salmon. He took us to a Senegalese restaurant, Waly-Fay. I now make it a mandatory stop whenever I visit Paris.
- Our friends just opened up a small place in LA called "All Time". My wife and shared a delicious meal that was so fresh and simple. When in LA it's a must!
I have eaten beef tongue in multiple countries and had it prepared in many ways. Here in the U.S., Mexico, Japan and Italy it always tastes delicious!
Elvis Presley and his acoustic guitar, to hear him sing and hummm for the entire trip would be.........!!
Angelina Jolie, A. I would love to try and convince her to partner with me on charitable endeavors and B. It's Angelina Jolie
Oprah Winfrey. She would have amazing stories about all the people she has interviewed and met.
Growing up, I watched reruns of I love Lucy, The Nelsons, The Partridge Family, The Monkeys. Looking back, I think I loved the music aspect of the shows. They transported me to another place. And they had some great outfits!
True Romance
Heat
The Kill Bill movies
Hostiles
Training Day
Silver Lining PlayBook
Man on Fire
These are some at the top of my list, but I have way too many to list them all: The Killers, Janelle Monae, Avett Brothers, Ray Charles, Elvis Presley, Early Rolling Stones, Led Zepplin, Alabama Shakes, Johnny Swim, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Ryan Adams, The Ramons, The Airborne toxic Event, Foo Fighters, Pearl Jam...
The Killers and the Foo Fighters, best show ever!! Also, I was lucky enough see Johnny Cash at a small venue before he passed. That was pretty special.
I'm a Volvo guy. Understated Luxury. We have owned them since 2001.
Dream car is a 1970 Chevy Chevelle SS.
Not the best as far as reliability and gas usage, but my favorite was a 1989 Jeep Grand Wagoner. Tan with the cherry oak vinyl woodgrain kit. I loved the truck!
Yes, I wear a watch every day. I bought my first automatic watch when I was 13 or 14 years old. I have had the bug ever since. I typically wear the same watch for 1 week and then at the start of each week I change it up with a different watch.
My favorite watch I own is a Seiko Divers that my girlfriend bought me for my 19th birthday. She is now my wife and the watch is 30 years old.
I have two dream watches and If I could only own two watches they would be: a Rolex Skydweller black dial in steel and a Blancpain Tribute to Fiftyfathoms Mil Spec.
Le Labo- Labdanum 18.
The best advice I have received was not spoken to me, but I have witnessed it with two different people. The first is Seth Ellison, a very successful executive in the fashion industry, also a mentor and dear friend. The second is Tommy Hilfiger; we met and later collaborated. Both of these men treat everyone around them with respect and kindness. From what I have witnessed the lowest junior employee to the most senior executive receives the same respect from these men. I also witnessed how both of these men let people do their jobs. They have told me that it takes a team and they couldn't do it without their teams. As strange as this may sound a lot of people I have met that are very successful are not very kind and respectful of others. My takeaway: Stay humble and appreciate everyone around you because one can't do everything by oneself.
