"What I didn't realize early on was that leather is painted to look perfect," says Esquivel of his childhood obsession with white sneakers. "I used to drive my shoemakers away because I would say, 'It's not good enough.' I didn't realize what perfection was until one guy said, 'Look, a beautiful shoe is not meant to be perfect. Every shoe-box handle and shoe bag is a different color because I want them to be special. You go to other cities and everybody looks the same, but people come to Southern California to be individuals.

Source: Los Angeles Times March 27, 2018 17:15 UTC