RUSSIA: Valenki boots making a comeback

Record ID: 757959

  • Title: RUSSIA: Valenki boots making a comeback
  • Date: 24th December 2009
  • Summary: NEVYANSK, URAL REGION, RUSSIA (RECENT) (REUTERS) SNOWY VILLAGE STREET VILLAGE HOUSE MAN HELPING WOMAN TO PUT ON VALENKI FELT BOOTS (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) WIFE OF VALENKI MAKER, IRINA KOZLOVA, SAYING "When I'm wearing Valenki the boys pay more attention to me than when I'm in high heels." VARIOUS OF KOZLOVA WALKING IN VALENKI BOOTS EXTERIOR OF THE 'VALENKI' WORKSHOP
  • Embargoed: 8th January 2010 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: Fashion
  • Reuters ID: LVA4YV3F4KUSF7QCMVJS7UOT69J4
  • Story Text: Traditional felt Valenki boots are making a comeback in Russia's Ural Mountains, where winter temperatures can fall to minus 40 degrees Celsius.
    This woollen footwear was a common sight in rural areas years ago, but now Valenki have gained enormous popularity among city dwellers too.
    Valenki fans say they are both attractive and practical.
    "When I'm wearing Valenki, the boys pay more attention to me than when I'm in high heels," said Irina Kozlova, the wife of a Valenki maker in the small town of Nevlyansk.
    Initially made in grey or black, Valenki are now being produced in fashionable colours and styles, but the technology remains almost the same as when the boots were first developed hundreds of years ago.
    According to some historical records, felt boots were made in Russia as early as the Scythian period. The process has not changed much over the centuries.
    Valenki maker Yevgeny Kozlov lives in a wooden village house in Nevyansk. He is now part of a widespread revival of the craft of making Valenki, which almost died out during Soviet times when mass production of shoes took hold in the communist planned economy.
    "This is how our grandfathers and great grandfathers made them: water, wool and their hands, that was all," said Kozlov, who took up the Valenki trade after 20 years as an engineer.
    In the workshop he employs three local craftspeople, supervising as they turn the damp wool into felt, before shaping and finally 'polishing' or finishing the boots. Each stage of the process is done by hand.
    The wool that felts best is undyed, it has to be cleaned and carded before felting. The carefully chosen wool comes in long, fluffy strands.
    Pouring hot water onto the wool is the first stage of felt production. The Valenki maker has to make sure the boot shape is even and comfortable, it has no seams.
    Production of one pair of Valenki takes many hours and Kozlov guards his recipe for real Ural Valenki closely.
    Although the boots look basic and primitive in form they are very sturdy and comfortable.
    Kozlov's workshop makes Valenki in different colours and with various decorations, producing a range which spans traditional to high fashion - in Valenki style at least.
    He says this year every third resident of Nevyansk wears his boots. One local resident, Valentina Kamayava, swears by hers.
    "I only have thin socks on and Valenki and my feet are as warm as toast. Valenki are the best boots," she said, as she trudged home in the snow, carrying the family shopping.
    Local legend holds that once Kozlov was commissioned to produce a pair of Valenki for Britain's Queen Elizabeth II.
    The unconfirmed story goes that a visiting foreign journalist ordered a pair of snow-white Valenki to present to Her Majesty on the occasion of a TV interview. Whether or not the Queen received the Valenki, no-one in Nevyansk really knows, but it did Kozlov's local reputation a lot of good.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register