Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

A worker processes wool used to make traditional footwear at a factory in Smilovichi, Belarus, Dec. 5.

Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

A worker processes semi-finished valenki, in Smilovichi, Belarus.

Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

A worker moves a cart of semi-finished valenki at a factory in Smilovichi, Belarus, Dec. 5.

Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

Workers sort semi-finished valenki at a factory in the village of Smilovichi, Dec. 5.

Vasily Fedosenko / Reuters

A worker processes semi-finished valenki, Dec. 5.

Valenki, a traditional Russian felt boot specifically designed for extreme frost typical of severe winter, remain popular in rural areas. Established in 1928, a factory in village of Smilovichi, 22 miles east of Minsk, still produces 17,000 pairs of boots a month, according to its director.  If you love these boots, there is a valenki museum in Vyshny Volochok, Russia.

Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA

A woman works at a felt boot factory in Smilovichi, Belarus, on Jan. 16, 2012.

EPA reports:

The Smilovichi Felting Factory was founded in 1928, when Smilovichi was a small Jewish settlement of craftsmen.  Five of those craftsmen organized a small artel, which produced warm boots called ‘valenki’ for cold weather. Later the artel was transformed into the enterprise 'Red Star', which was to supply Germany during the Second World War, when Belarus was occupied by the Nazis.

Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA

Hota Kanapskaya, 73, has been working at the factory for 53 years.

The raw sheep’s wool is imported from Dagestan, Central Asia and Belgium, with only five per cent produced domestically. The production of the factory is exported to Russia, the Ukraine, Poland, Germany, Baltic States and to the countries of Western Europe. About 800 pairs of felt boots can be produced every day at the factory, which makes about 200,000 pairs of ‘valenki’ per year.

Tatyana Zenkovich / EPA

The boots begin to take shape.

Slideshow: Winter wonderland

Patrick Semansky / AP

Winter has arrived in the Northern hemisphere. Take in the sights from North America, Europe and Asia.

Launch slideshow