Old festival tents become sleeping bags and coats under innovative new scheme

Designer Bas Timmer and businessman Alexander de Groot hope to expand the scheme across the country

A model in one of the Sheltersuits (Sheltersuit, via Facebook)

Festival tents are being repurposed as waterproof coats that can be turned into sleeping bags for the homeless, in an innovative scheme in the Netherlands.

The design, currently being shown at Dutch Design Week and dubbed the ‘Sheltersuit’, is the brainchild of designer Bas Timmer in partnership with friend and businessman Alexander de Groot.

Mr Timmer’s design allows for a waterproof sleeping bag to be detached from the main jacket and stored in a separate waterproof bag, making it easy for homeless individuals to carry and store on the move.

The two men came up with the idea towards the end of last year after the death of a friend’s father on the streets as he was sleeping rough.

Their coats are made in partnership with Syrian volunteers in Mr Timmer’s studio in Enchede. In exchange for their skills – many of whom are professional tailors – the studio offers assimilation courses, driving lessons and help with accommodation.

Although only a small number of the coats are available through the pair’s Sheltersuit foundation, they hope to distribute 2,500 across the Netherlands, and plan to distribute 50 of the suits to Paris’s homeless this month.