Hand-Made Valenki Factory in Vyshny Volochek
Boris Nikolayevich, the factory owner, is assessing the quality of newly-arrived wool by feeding it to the machine that makes loose wool - the first step in the production process.
Properly made valenki (felt boots) are practical yet beautiful, and uniquely "Russian". One of very few shops that still make them by hand is right on the highway as you enter Vyshny Volochek when going north, on your right hand side.
The owner of the factory is Boris Nikolayevich Smorodov. The mailing address is 171162 Tverskaya oblast / g. Vyshny Volochek / ul. Parizhskoy Kommuny 37/26. Tel. 8-48233-63653 and 8-910-533-4186. E-mail enquiries, according to a centuries-old Russian custom, are highly unlikely to be answered. I received several enquiries asking why Mr. Sorodov would not answer. That's why. He is in the business of making valenki, not answering enquiries. But his e-mail is smorodov@mail.ru. He also has a page in the internet which is unlikely to open but here it is: www.valenki.hotmail.ru/index.html. Checked. Of course it does not. Do not let this discourage you. His valenki may be exactly what you need if you live in a cold place.
It is sacred NOT to answer e-mail enquiries and to make sure the site is down. That's why you need a contact person here. You address your enquiry to me and let me pester whoever you need to get a response from. I can be secured to be such a person for a monthly fee although one-time assignments are welcomed too.
Among valenki's many advantages over western winter footwear is their light weight, ability to hold warmth even when wet, and ability to adapt to the specific shape of your foot. Further, valenki are comfortable over an extremely wide temperature range, from above zero to -30 centigrade. Old-timers wear them year round. The downside is a certain clumsiness of the cheaper types of valenki while the softer type is unable to hold shape well and will not last for more than 2-3 years.
A pair of good valenki will generally cost in the $30-50 range. ) are awaiting field trials in the winter of 2005-2006.
The best time to buy valenki is in the summer, especially if you want them white with a rolled up top ("Gypsy" style), which is my preference. In the winter you may have to settle for what's available.
Valenki are dipped in hot water and kneaded and beaten repeatedly to make the material dense, and then put on a foot-shaped piece of wood to dry.
When we drove up to the factory in the beginning of August 2011 I was shocked at this scene thinking the factory is there no longer. It turned out it is expanding, and there are plans to set up a valenki museum on the second floor.
Valenki is on my very short list of things worth taking with you from Russia. If you are in Moscow, you can get your valenki at Mir Shersti on Vtoroy Kozhevnichesky pereulok 12, behind the Paveletsky Train Station. You may also want to visit the valenki museum associated with the store. The store can also be recommended as a good place to buy linen. One of my favourite places in Moscow.. Here, I seem to have found a page, in English, which actually opens and says something about the Moscow factory, the store, and the museum: en.gorizont.org/muzey/
August 2011