The Meeting of Two American Dreamers

"We both like to inject a bit of attitude and our personality into classics," George Esquivel excitedly exclaims whilst standing at the centre of his hive of craftsmanship, a lively leather scented, three and half thousand square foot workshop in Orange County. His voice races as he whizzes us around on a whistle stop tour of his world. Between three and four thousand shoes a year are clicked, closed, welted, finished and furnished by his close knit family of craftsmen but there is a discernible delight echoing around the space today. Why? The reality of two American dreamers' shared fantasy is taking shape before their ever eager eyes. After creating exclusive shoes for Tommy Hilfiger's autumn/winter 13 menswear show, the pair have taken their collaboration to the next level. Forming a dynamic duo draped in red, white and blue, the result is a limited edition capsule collection of footwear hand made in California.

"It all comes out of here," Esquivel proudly proclaims, arms and smile stretched wide. From the quiet, unassuming, commercial enclave that his workshop resides to the temples to high society in the centre of Los Angeles, this is very much George Esquivel's world. Having been warned that is was something of a Marmite metropolis, that I'd either love it or loathe it, Esquivel and team Tommy combined to be the skeleton key to a once in a lifetime exploration of the ever sprawling an wildly eclectic city. They combined to make it the perfect summer getaway and I left in love. Esquivel's first excited words of many as he welcomed this fortunate group of bloggers and journalists were a declaring that he'd be taking us bowling. "It's at the Rosevelt Hotel, it's a two-lane, it's a gaming parlour with a vintage bowling alley called the Spare Room, I actually made the shoes. Everyone is there. I received a text the other night that Brad Pitt and Angelina were bowling in my shoes, it was amazing. It's so much fun. It's what I call cool LA not crazy LA." Like any good guide, Esquivel combined local knowledge with a constant flow of captivating narrative. His path into shoemaking alone could easily translate to the silver screen and be a box office smash.

"My childhood was pretty crazy. We grew up mostly in and out of motels, on welfare and food stamps. I’m the oldest of five so there were seven of us in the motel room and then my dad went to jail." From running drugs in his youth to watching his father go to jail for murder and homelessness to a life backstage at punk gigs, Esquivel is not your typical shoemaker but it is fuelled by a familiar passion. He fell into shoemaking in the mid 1990s after a failed attempt to find the perfect vintage-inspired shoe. A muso, the designer was immersed in California's rich punk and rockabilly scenes and needed shoes to match his unique aesthetic. "I used to buy vintage clothes and shoes but I could never find anything I liked in terms of new footwear," he reminisces. He spent years scouring the state for an able shoemaker to realise his whims and fancies but to no avail. After arguing with one cobbler over a pair that didn't meet his insatiably high standards, he was about to throw in the polishing rag but his shoe salvation arrived in the form of a bystander who, intrigued by Esquivel's impassioned pleas, followed him out of the shop. "He introduced himself as a shoemaker and said, 'I don't know why but I like you and I want to make you some shoes.'" The man was Emigdio Canales, a retired master cobbler who operated a cottage industry shoe factory out of his garage. He quickly became Esquivel's collaborator and mentor.

"In the beginning, it was just a hobby, selling shoes to friends," he modestly explains. These friends soon morphed into musical heroes. From admiring glances towards his own feet at gigs to requests from musical friends and ultimately to touring buddies, the good word of Esquivel spread. "The small local bands that I used to hang out would go on tour with the big bands, and they would often ask about their shoes and they'd hand them my card and say 'Call George, he'll sort you out.'" A business began to thrive. Esquivel has never stopped learning. From scurrying around shoe repair shacks to crafting shoes for the elite of Los Angeles and beyond, the collaboration with Tommy Hilfiger marks another confident step forward. As Esquivel's tale bounces around your brain, take our hand and let us lead you, as he did to us, on a quick tour of his world as the fruits of his latest creative coming together began to take shape.

Much like Tommy Hilfiger,  George Esquivel is a great American dreamer. Stars and stripes pulsate through this authentic product of California. Artefacts of this technicolour world are scattered throughout his studio. Like two well crafted canoes, a pair of size fifteen dress shoes destined for the feet of a New Knick's baller float on the wood floor are joined by a battered and well weathered trunk belonging to Sylvester Stallone that the actor had hoped would be transformed into footwear fabulousness, whilst a mood board of leathers provoke daydreams for the sole of Janelle Monae grace the wall.

"Tommy used to have my whole wall. but as it went in to production it shrank. It started with ten styles, twelve colours and all manner of different leather options. There wasn't a brief. the styles just evolved out of our conversations. We looked at what Tommy does, he does preppy Americana and we explored what we liked and it reduced down to a brogue and a loafer. It was then about making preppy but adding the soul of rock and roll, a little bit rebellious. For example, the perforation on the toe is a really cool design process that mimics the signature plaid pattern of Tommy Hilfiger," adds Esquivel as an interested, ever analytical eye is focussed in on one his experts applying the described touch to the toe of a brogue. His love of the craft is both obvious and infectious.

Having first roamed onto Hilfiger's radar as a Vogue/CFDA Fashion Fund finalist in 2009, Equivel was one of ten designers included in an "Americans in Paris" showcase sponsored by Vogue and Tommy Hilfiger 2011 and a friendship blossomed. They are two kindred spirits, each dedicated to their own craft within Americana. Whilst Tommy Hilfiger is a sartorial star bangled banner gently blowing outside the college of preppy, Esquivel's carefully crafted shoes are inherently Californian, rebellious and a little rock 'n roll. It makes for a happy marriage. "He adds a fresh take to timeless pieces. His designs use unique details that give classics an updated look," Hilfiger declares of Esquivel. "Tommy calls it the twist. We've both been transforming the familiar into the exciting in our way for years but it's been fun putting our heads together," adds Esquivel. Every pair is hand-crafted by skilled workers, adding unique and distinctive elements to the styles whilst each is assigned a one-of-a-kind shoe number that’s hand-written on the shoe and its hangtag to make these objects of desire even more desirable. Ten weeks after our visit to the workshop and as their collaboration hits stores global wide, Tommy Hilfiger and George Esquivel sent through my own limited edition brogue.

Delighting in the duality of new and old, expected and unexpected, traditional and modern, the two complimentary world's collide beautifully in a collaboration that sees two prepster staples re-imagined. With antiqued washed leathers, hand punched perforations and contrasting hues, both the humble brogue and loafer are elevated to new heights. The Tommy Hilfiger + Esquivel logo has been burned into the leather using a hot branding iron. Soles and heels are polished individually using layers of polishes and creams. The results are unique but elegant, whimsical yet sophisticated.

Tommy Hilfiger's + Esquivel brogue

Discovering... Cottweiler

"It's difficult to pin down precisely when it launched," Matt Dainty confesses as he begins to talk me through the evolution of his shared concept-led menswear label, Cottweiler. "We had been designing and producing garments on a personal order basis for our mates and people that lived and worked around the area for quite a while before we were stocked anywhere," adds Ben Cottrell, the other half of its design duo. "We've only been wholesaling for two seasons and autumn/winter 13 is our first full collection going in to store. So for some people the label seems new, for others it's quite familiar," adds Dainty. Sentences might be fall from the label's mouths in Dainty's appropriated capital twang or Cottrell's West Country hum, it does not matter because they are always heard as one. From their small but perfectly formed studio squeezed into a railway arch in East London, the pair work tirelessly on growing the label in their own way and on their own terms. After first being introduced to the label on the rails of Primitive last year, my appetite to truly discover Cottweiler was whet. Serving up a feast of autumn/winter 13, spring/summer 14 and archive collections, the pair did not disappoint during my drive through visit to their studio.

"Cottweiler is driven by our friendship and what inspires us both. We've had quite different upbringings but there's so much common ground between us. We're both drawn to subculture, particularly British subculture and the label started as a creative process, an outlet from our day jobs in design and tailoring, Ben was on Savile Row for a number of years and Cottweiler enabled us to explore our love of sports and casual wear in a high end way. It was an organic process. It's stayed true to it. Looking back now over our first designs, there's been definitive continuation and evolution. We've not strayed too far from the original concept because it's been an organic process."

Meeting whilst studying Fashion and Textiles at Bristol University the pair were soon drawn to each another, swapping research inspirations and ultimately united by a shared desire to start a label with longevity that would challenge people to think about what they are wearing. Focused on simplicity, function, fit and fabrication, the resulting label deftly balances luxury fabrication and sportswear. Each Cottweiler collection is a smorgasbord of subculture, an intriguing mix iconographic references from youth movement, religious symbols, fetishism and the occult. In addition to producing seasonal collections, limited edition ranges and an ever growing made-to-measure client base, Cottweiler collaborates with cutting edge artists on projects across several mediums including film, photography and illustration.

"We practically spend twenty four hours a day together, we are always talking about next season, have a clear direction of what we want to do next. We are always looking ahead, sending each other images," begins Cottrell as he explains the effervescence of their design dynamic. "We do everything together, from bouncing around ideas at mood board stage to patterns and managing production right through to casting, commissioning look books and making the sample range here in the studio." adds Dainty.

Aside from production which happens in a little factory a button's throw away from the studio, everything happens in their East London enclave. The pair are enveloped by Cotteiler. From mood boards drenched in bubbling subcultures to rails of garments, new and old, the collective heartbeat of the label races on. The last four seasons of research and campaign imagery stand together in unity. Their ideas mingle, merge and push one other forward. Their an aesthetic authenticity. Their curation of amateur photography and youtube screenshots sit seamlessly alongside subsequent look books. From prison codes to scuba diving, joyriders and tunnel dwellers to ravers, look into Cottweiler's kaleidoscope of inspiration below and on their tumblr.

Snapshots of four seasons of Cottweiler's inspirations.

Away from the glare of London Collections: Men's spotlight and out of reach of the BFC's support (for now atleast), Cottweiler has forged its own path. First building up an enthused client base for personal and made-to-measure orders and then slowly but steadily adding a like-minded stockist list. "We've always enjoyed the personal order side because it's fun to offer something that's not on a rail and is made to their specific measurements," adds an excited Cottrell as he thumbs through an archive rail and imagines future fittings. "At the beginning it was the only way we could work because we didn't have stockists, there was no other option back then," confesses Dainty. "Now, it's great because alongside the key stockists that we have, a list that includes GR8 in Tokyo, Fragile in Osaka and Substance in California, there's a regular customer base who come in often. There's one guy who has the same cut of joggers in multiple fabrications, adding one or two each season. As the collections grow it can get a little crazy but it's fun. There's an investment, customers have to pick up the phone and come in to see us, the space could be perceived as intimidating in a number of ways so it takes a lot to come and place an order but it means they are truly passionate. For us, it's great to meet people and talk to them about product, how it's made and the thought and processes behind it."

"It's been gradual," echoes Cottrell. "We've not rushed ourselves to produce full collections and we've always stayed true to our original concept. Steadily the collections are growing and the technology of the fabric and finishing is being developed season on season. We are always looking to finish garments as cleanly as possible, minimal detailing. We look for supplier who can offer us something new. One day we'll have our own bonding and laser cutting machines," he declares triumphantly. "Fabric is so important to us," adds Dainty picking up the conversational baton. "We're both excited by performance fabrics and fabrics that still perform yet have the appearance of classic cloths. We've managed to build five core suppliers, some are in the UK and others in Germany, Switzerland and France, who will work with us in small quantities. The beauty of what we do is that we're drawn to a palette of black, blue and navy and most stock fabrics are in the hues we like so it makes our position easier, we tend to get everything that we want from these suppliers."

This appears to be the perfect moment to meet Cottweiler. Having lurked in the shadows of sportswear, developing and evolving collections as and when they've been ready to do so, the boys are about to step out as a fully defined, working label. Meeting the pair as they finish off production for their first full collection and close orders with their largest pool of stockists to date, they are ready to push on to the next level. Our excited eyes linger over the rail of autumn/winter 13.

"With a colour palette of black, white and carbon, Autumn/Winter 13 took inspiration from joyriders in Golf GTis and kids that live in tunnels under the streets of Eastern Europe," explains Dainty as he thumbs through the bonded tape sweatshirts, polo shirts that mix tech pique and mesh, tench coats in techno wool and hooded bibs in nylon and lycra before introducing me to the Aline and Jacqueline Tappia Reynaud shot look book.

Taking inspiration from Central European forest raves, Cottweiler travelled to the Czech Republic for spring/summer 13 to work with artist and photographer Luis Artemio De Los Santos. Consisting of transparent shell suits, stretch satin sauna suits and the label's signature oversized jersey pieces, the hidden wildness of Prague proved the perfect setting.

"We had previously worked in studios trying to recreate an atmosphere for look books but this season we went to Prague with a photographer that we both hugely admire, Luis. We shot the collection on street cast parkour kids who were all part of a group that he'd be documenting for a number of years. We did an online casting and spent two days out there. it was the best shoot we've done because it was an amazing atmosphere, we went out into the forests, had a couple bottles of wine and just saw them naturally. Rather than recreate something, we shot something that was as real as a fashion shoot could possibly be. The photographer has been a massive inspiration ad influence, he just has a unique talent, he transcends this trend of net art because it's quite classic and possesses an unsaid quality. We hope to be working with him a lot more. over the next couple of years. It's great to meet someone, like our filmmaker Nick, who gets it. His skill is editing but he's an artist, the films evoke a feeling rather than show off garments," explains Dainty. "You don't have to explain or force the concept with these guys," adds Cottrell succinctly.

"We've tried to develop the identity of Cottweiler without putting our names all over it. We are pretty anti-branding to be honest," admits Cottrell laughing. "That's how we dress as well, we are into sportswear but we'e not into swooshes and three stripes everywhere," adds Dainty. There is a subtlety to Cottweiler, their designs don't need a brash logo to be seen, they already stand out with their sportswear in luxury fabrics. They are just waiting to be discovered.