A chance meeting between Mike Kessinger and Joe Abi-Arrage in 1997 led to a fast friendship and a purposeful partnership that defines Barefoot Comfort Co.

A native of Sydney, Australia, Joe was managing a hotel in Amsterdam in the mid 1990s when a woman on holiday from the United States checked in. Shortly after meeting this woman who would soon become his wife, Joe left the Netherlands and put down stakes in South Carolina.

An Atlanta native, and resident of several states along the Eastern seaboard while growing up, Mike graduated from Wofford College in Spartanburg, SC, in 1992, and from the business school at University of South Carolina/Columbia in 1994. After grad school, Mike moved 90 miles from South Carolina's capital city, to Greenville, where he opened a Coffee Beanery franchise in 1996.

During Mike's seven-year stint with The Coffee Beanery, Joe went to work for Barefoot Sandals in Columbia while his wife was in business school there. Joe soon became manager of the Columbia store and helped the company open additional stores in Charlotte, NC, and Greenville, SC.

A committed coffee drinker, Joe frequented The Coffee Beanery on Main Street --just a few doors down from the new Greenville location of Barefoot Comfort Co. When Joe got wind of a possible sale of the casual footwear retailer, he and Mike decided to take their friendship to a new level and, in 2001, purchased the Greenville location of Barefoot Comfort Co.

While Joe's passion for the Clemson Tigers, and Mike's devotion to his beloved Georgia Bulldogs, create interesting exchanges, "We hit it off from the get go, and we get along like a house on fire," Joe says. While dedicated to different teams, Mike and Joe pull together in their commitment to help their customers discover the difference between a shoe and real comfort. "We carry niche brands that you won't find in Big Box stores," says Joe. "When you put your feet in a pair of our shoes, it's like driving away in a Bentley."