A Dutch designer who has developed a snow suit that turns into a sleeping bag has been heralded as one of 10 Next Generation Leaders by influential magazine Time.

Bas Timmer told the AD he was ‘totally shocked’ by being included in the list of young people Time considers to be ‘trailblazers’ who are ‘forging new paths, crossing boundaries and creating change’.

Timmer, who specialised in making cold weather clothing, came up with the idea for his ‘shelter suit‘ after an encounter with a homeless man. He had thought about giving him one of his hoodies, but decided not too, and the guilt, he told Time, drove him to dedicate his brand to helping others.

Six years later and he had distributed 12,500 to homeless people in the Netherlands, the US and various other European countries, as well as to refugees in Greece.

Timmer says the Time listing has resulted in a major flurry of interest in the project, particularly in the US. ‘But this title is not mine,’ he told the AD. ‘It is for Sheltersuit. And if the Syrian refugees living in an refugee centre had not helped sew the first suits in the early days, we would never have reached this point.’