The Facebook Employee Who Designs Shoes on the Side

Racked is no longer publishing. Thank you to everyone who read our work over the years. The archives will remain available here; for new stories, head over to Vox.com, where our staff is covering consumer culture for The Goods by Vox. You can also see what we’re up to by signing up here.

Mike Matas is a web designer who founded Push Pop Press, a publisher that helped Al Gore create the first full-length interactive book Our Choice. The company was recently acquired by Facebook, where Matas now works. He also helped design the Nest "learning thermostat," which made waves around the interwebs a couple months ago. He earned his chops at Apple and cofounded a software company called Delicious Monster. He runs MyCookingDiary with his girlfriend. What's missing from this busy gentleman's resume? SHOES, right?

Well, no longer. Matas has partnered with the shoemakers at a Spanish company called Preventi to design a handmade, Italian leather, wool-lined shoe he calls "Global Nomads." They are quite fetching high-top go-anywhere comfy-looking numbers that will run you $259. And Mr. Matas is his own model. What can't he do?
· A Local Tech Star Shows Off His Latest Sneaker Collab [Refinery 29]
· Mike Matas [Official Site]
· Preventi Global Nomads [Official Site]