Retail Refugees

The International Herald Tribune had an article recently about the emergence of the traditional Russian “valenki” boot as a fashion trend.

In Russia, a land of cruel winters and even more unforgiving strong drink, legends of homemade hangover cures are treated with an air of great seriousness. Peter the Great is rumored to have favored a steaming bowl of cabbage soup and a walk around the palace in a pair of his favorite valenki – thick wool boots long popular in the wilds of the Russian countryside for their supposedly restorative properties.

These days, valenki are making a stylish comeback in Russia’s capital, with Moscow’s young and fashionable wearing them out in the city’s cafés and nightclubs. Some of the most popular are made by Olga Chernikova, an accidental designer who began making valenki as a hobby five years ago, when she returned to Russia after spending several years in Nigeria.

Now she produces a few hundred pairs of the boots a year, which she makes by hand at her apartment in downtown Moscow, and her first collection, at Russian Fashion Week in 2007, sold out in a few days.

“At first, a lot of people think that they’re something for the village or the collective farm,” Chernikova said of the boots.

“But why shouldn’t we remember that we’re Russians? The Scottish have their kilts, and we have our valenki.”

Chernikova’s wool valenki are sold in clothing boutiques throughout Moscow, and by appointment at her apartment near the Belorussky train station; rusvalenki@list.ru.  Upon my own investigation I found an interesting ecommerce site www.rusclothing.com that also sells valenki boots.

Could the valenki boot be the next Moccasin or Red Wing boot?…

I live in the East Village in NY, and I’m beginning to see these boots more and more. I bought mine from AKAculture.com after finding an online coupon for 10% off. I think it’s still around: AKACH09. Anyway, I think these are on the brink of taking off – they’re just quirky enough.

Comment by Jackie January 27, 2009 @ 3:04 am

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These are the ugliest boots I have ever seen.

Comment by Eliza February 28, 2009 @ 3:38 am

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Здравствуйте.
Помогите пожалуйста купить валенки.
Где и как можно купить валенки через ваш сайт.Какая цена?И есть ли большие размеры как 48 размер.
Спасибо.

Comment by Халилова Гульнара April 2, 2009 @ 7:08 am

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I bought mine from http://www.slovz.com awesome!

Comment by cherry December 18, 2009 @ 12:41 pm

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блин…писал-писал, а сообщение не отправилось и не сохранилось вообщем блог понравился. админу удачи в развитии.

Comment by drafemearse January 18, 2010 @ 9:32 am

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I love Valenki by Olga Chernikova!
http://www.ruvalenki.ru/
на этом сайте вы можете купить настоящие русские валенки ручной валки по старинной технологии.

Comment by Lu February 1, 2010 @ 4:06 pm

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Comment by blinds65 April 10, 2010 @ 2:56 pm

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