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    ESAB's Future for Fabricators platform is committed to highlighting those who lead education for aspiring future fabricators. We aim to share inspirational stories, facilitate initiatives to bring tools and expertise to communities, and make our equipment accessible to ensure future fabricators are set up for success - right from the start.

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  1. ESAB | Home
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January 21, 2026

FOR TWO YEARS RUNNING ESAB SPONSORS 2026 BLUE COLLAR TOUR

North Bethesda, Md. – As part of the ESAB Future Fabricators program, ESAB announced that it will again sponsor the “Blue Collar Tour” featuring  Western Welding Academy, continuing their shared mission to increase the interest and awareness of high school students in the skilled trades. The 2026 tour starts January in Stratton, Colorado, and includes 31 total stops in 21 states before concluding in mid-March. 

More than 4,000 students directly participated in 31 Blue Collar Tour events last year, and social media content generated during the tour earned millions of views, further spreading the tour’s impact. The Blue Collar Tour stops at high schools across the country and engages students through welding demonstrations, product and swag giveaways, Q&A sessions with professional welders about their careers and “best bead” student welding contests. 

ESAB supports the tour with application engineers and sales representatives who share their own career experiences and support welding demonstrations. Student engagement activities on each stop include the opportunity to TIG or Stick weld with ESAB’s Renegade VOLT™ ES 200i battery-powered welder. In addition, ESAB provides more than $50,000 of products and swag (t-shirts, hoodies, stickers, welding posters and more) as part of the giveaways that are key to engaging students. Every school on the stop gets a Victor® oxy-acetylene outfit, and winners of student welding contests can win an automatic helmet.

“ESAB is proud to be returning as a sponsor of this year’s Blue Collar Tour and expanding the impact of its Future Fabricators Program,” says Albert Miller, U.S. Vice President of Distribution Sales, ESAB. “Through the excitement and education of tour events, we help students, parents and school counselors understand that welding is a great career with many avenues for progressional growth.”

“If we’re ever going to have a chance at influencing the youth and really shaping their desire to be successful in life, we’re going to have to get down on their level, eye to eye with them, and reach them through social media and the Blue Collar Tour,” says Tyler Sasse, founder of Western Welding Academy. “Organizing a tour of this magnitude takes a team, and the love that ESAB puts into promoting and supporting the tour multiplies the impact of Western Welding Academy’s efforts.”  

The Blue Collar Tour will feature an expanded celebration of the skilled trades on February 13 at ESAB’s manufacturing and distribution facility in Denton, Texas. The event will bring together students and instructors from high schools in the Denton and greater Dallas – Ft. Worth area, additional welding influencers, tours of the ESAB facility, and food and entertainment. 

Road Trip for the Future

For five years, the Blue Collar Tour has traveled around the country with representatives from Western Welding Academy, one of the industry’s most popular trade schools located in Gillette, Wyoming. Founded by pipe welders, the school offers a 960-hour pipe welding course and boasts a huge social media following, largely among young people interested in learning a trade. In 2025, the tour generated more than 3.3 million social media Impressions in just 60 days. In addition, 56 media outlets and news stations provided coverage (see story in the Chicago Tribune). ESAB reached an additional 500,000 viewers through its own social media channels. 

“I have found that I can teach for years and still not excite my students about joining the trades as much as this event does,” said Luis Guerrero, WWA instructor at School District U-46 in Elgin, Illinois, which was on the 2025 tour. “Without skilled tradespeople, many professions would not exist. The Blue Collar Tour helps students internalize this message, showing them the potential they possess, and high school is the best place to start.”

“I love the passion of the Blue Collar Tour,” said Lou Jensen, who won an ESAB Savage A41 automatic helmet in 2025 for making the best weld bead at the Elgin stop. “It’s neat to see people getting back into the trades, and it’s great to be a part of it. I am good with my hands, so welding just made sense.” 

Visit Blue Collar Revolution and  Western Welding academy for more information on the Blue Collar Tour and visit ESAB Future Fabricators for more information on ESAB’s support for the next generation of welders.

About ESAB 

ESAB is a world leader in fabrication technology. For more than 100 years ESAB has transformed industries built by fabricators, providing complete workflow solutions through our diverse portfolio of products from more than 40 of the most trusted brands in welding and cutting in the world. From industrial demands to repair and maintenance, innovators that shape the world rely on ESAB’s portfolio. To learn more, visit ESAB.com. 

Blue Collar Tour
Caption: ESAB is sponsoring  the 2026 “Blue Collar Tour” featuring  Western Welding Academy” a 31-city American journey with a mission to get high school students interested in the skilled trades. 

FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT:

ESAB Media Contact:
Chuck Schroeder
Tel +1 (262) 618-4427
[email protected]

Corporate Media Contact:
Tilea Coleman
Tel +1 (301) 323-9092
[email protected]

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