While helmet and protective gear manufacturers are focused on creating a safe and comfortable environment for welders, they now have to keep an eye toward fashion. In increasing numbers, welders are asking for and buying protective welding gear that appeals to their individual sense of fashion.

"People want a way to express themselves at work, and welding helmets are a good way of doing it," says Sara Lippold, marketing coordinator for Jackson Products. "Decorated welding helmets are one of the biggest trends in the industry right now."

Jackson Products is at the forefront in decorated helmet design, sponsoring a helmet design contest for students earlier this year. The competition was open to high school students, vocational college students, and community college students who had an interest in airbrushing, painting, or otherwise "safely decorating" their helmets.

Many other manufacturers are following that trend as well. Indeed, many manufacturers are now taking pride in the fact that their product lines are winning design awards — and those awards are not just for being safe and ergonomically sound.

"Actually our Titans with Attitude line won a design award when it was launched in 2000," says Alan Kinsler, director of international sales for Sellstrom. "But they are not just good-looking helmets. The overall design affords good neck protection that is contoured, and the helmet itself is very light. We also use a head gear design that is time-proven."

The Titans line includes several different styles with patriotic and motorsportsrelated themes. "O Canada!" appeals to welders north of the border with a lightweight, ergonomically designed helmet decorated with a Canadian flag, while "America" features the head of a bald eagle against Old Glory. Another called "Freedom" depicts the eagle flying solo, while two others, "Born to Ride" and "Finish Line," appeal to professionals and hobbyists who feel the need for speed.

If you're detecting an overall trend in fashion just from Sellstrom's offerings, you're right. Much of the current fashion trend in helmets is being fueled by cable television shows that show welders in an entirely new light. Take Miller Electric's offerings as an example. While its Performance Series helmets boast such features as solar-assist lens technology and unsurpassed light-state clarity for low-amperage TIG applications, they also come in five brand-new designs, including Signature helmets from Paul Teutel Jr. of Orange County Choppers and Boyd Coddington, one of the nation's premier hot rod builders.

For its part, Bacou-Dalloz has a line that it is selling under license from Harley-Davidson.

"More people want a sense of individuality while at work," says Tom Botthof, product manager of welding helmets for the company. "And it's pretty much going that way for a while — especially with the young people. They are looking for something that will set them apart from their co-workers and peers."

While decorated helmets are a recently new development over the past two years, manufacturers will never sacrifice quality and safety for the sake of fashion. Even decorated helmets must go through the same flammability and performance testing required by both ANSI and CSA in North America and CE in Europe. So even though there is more freedom with style, there's still a lot of responsibility.