Fuel the Trades™ · Field Report
Build California Summer Camp
San Ramon, CA · July 2026 · Hosted by AGC of California
Thirty students. Thirty first pairs.
Build California is the workforce arm of AGC of California, run alongside the AGC Construction Education Foundation. Its summer camp is a free, week-long career exploration program for rising high school juniors and seniors, held at the Northern California Laborers Training Center in San Ramon.
Purpose-Built was on the schedule for the first morning. We taught the room how a work boot is supposed to fit and walked them through the personal protective equipment a jobsite is going to expect of them. Then we stopped talking and fitted every student individually.
For most of them it was the first pair of work boots they had ever owned.
One hour, big impact
5 Steps to a Perfect Fit
Our boot fitting methodology, taught the same way our staff teaches it on the sales floor. How fit actually works, and why it matters more than the logo on the side.
PPE 101
The safety gear breakdown. High-vis classes, ANSI ratings, head and eye protection, and what a jobsite will require of them on day one.
Live Fitting
Then we did it. Every student measured and fitted in person, and every student kept the pair.
Nobody showed up empty-handed.
Thirty pairs of work boots from Timberland PRO. Co-branded shirts from Dickies. Everything the students were fitted with, they kept.
Vendor partners can't get into a room like this on their own. They get here through a retail partner who was already invited, and who shows up with the staff, the sizing and the instruction to make the donation land as something more than a giveaway.
This is the room Fuel the Trades was built for.
Ninety-two percent of construction firms say they can't fill their open craft positions. Purpose-Built isn't solving that from a sales floor. What we can do is make sure the people walking into this trade know how to pick gear that keeps them in it. We're committed to the workers who carry the weight of real work, and that commitment starts before their first day on a jobsite.
Brands That Backed It
Bring Fuel the Trades to Your Program.
Submit your program and your local Purpose-Built rep will follow up within 48 hours to walk through gear needs, kit pricing and next steps. If you're a trade organization, union, employer or brand looking to sponsor an activation, we want to hear from you too.
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