Last year we decided to set boys up with their own room. Up until then Eleon slept on a floor bed next to my bed, and Ale´ slept in his crib bed which was getting too short for him. So we felt it was a good time to give them bigger beds and a room for them to share.

I was truly impressed with all the work and heart that this company put in doing their very best for their customers, their workers and our planet.

We already had 2 beautiful beds for the boys that we inherited when we bought our little cabin in the mountains. But we needed mattresses. It was very important to us that the mattresses would have no chemical off-gassing and were made suitably. After some research we decided to go with Avocado Green Mattress and after owning it for close to a year we remain very happy with it. I was truly impressed with all the work and heart that this company puts in making sure they do their very best for their customers, for their workers and for our planet. So I thought it was good time to make a mention of it on my blog, since it is dedicated to non-toxic and sustainable living. 🙂

Toxins in conventional mattresses

First, I wanted to quickly share some information about what could be wrong with a conventional mattresses and why we chose to stay away from them.

One of the most common materials used to make conventional mattresses is polyurethane foam. Polyurethane foam is made from petroleum-based chemicals and emits harmful chemicals into air which we are breathing in as we sleep on such mattress.

An unfortunately, polyurethane foam is also typically gets treated with toxic flame retardants, as the foam is highly flammable. Flame retardants have been linked to cancer, hormone disruption and negative effects on immune system.

Here is some information from EWG.ORG:

Most mattresses on the market are full of chemicals that can pollute your bedroom air and harm your body. This includes polyurethane foam that can emit volatile organic compounds, or VOCs, harmful chemicals that can cause respiratory irritation or other health problems; flame retardant chemicals linked to cancer, hormone disruption and adverse effects on the immune system; and PVC or vinyl covers that can damage developing reproductive systems.

Avocado Mattress:
organic and non-toxic

Clean organic ingredients:

Avocado Green Mattress is made with organic GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) certified latex (91%), GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified wool (9%) and coils. The outer cover of the mattress is made with GOTS certified organic cotton.

Their latex is not only GOLS certified, but also is OEKO-TEX 100 and MADE SAFE certified.

Avocado Green mattresses are also GREENGUARD Gold certified.

It is also hand-tufted, as oppose to glued (no off-gassing from the glue).

Free from following toxic ingredients:

These mattresses also are free from the following common toxic ingredients:

• No flame retardants — the natural materials used for the mattress naturally posses fire resistant qualities
• No polyurethane foam, no memory foam
• Formaldehyde free certified
• No chemical adhesives and glues (mattresses are hand-tufted instead)

Comfort

As far as comfort — I agree with the other reviewers on Avocado Mattress website that these mattresses are medium firm. The boys love it, and both my husband and my mom also like it. I myself prefer it a bit softer, and so I like Avocado Mattress with a wool topper. Since we already had an organic wool topper, we didn’t need to buy one. But if you are going to buy a topper Avocado Mattress also offers toppers.

Here I want to mention that these mattresses have American Chiropractic Association endorsement, and from everything I read over the years medium firm is considered the best for sleep, especially for children.

Beautiful craftsmanship

I also want to mention that these mattresses are very beautifully made. Everything about them feels like it was made by someone who actually cared.

Customer Service

We had a very positive experience with Avocado Green Mattress customer service. We have not had any issues with the mattresses, but we also purchased a pillow from them and it seemed too firm to me. So I have contacted the customer service letting then know it didn’t feel comfortable. The response from the customer service representative was very prompt, helpful and truly caring. They have advised me to take out some of the latex filling to adjust the firmness of the pillow, which worked great.

Ethic and sustainability

When it comes to sustainability and ethic I was really impressed with all the thought and efforts that went into making this a business that produces a wonderful product for the customers, while also gives back to the workers and environment.

On this page on their website you can read about all of their impressive certifications, such as 100% solar powered, carbon negative, certified organic facility, B Corp certificate, formaldehyde free mattress validation, Greenguard Gold mattress certification, Made Safe Mattress certification, and even PETA-approved certification for their vegan mattresses. The list goes on and it is truly impressive.

1. Ethically sourced wool

   The wool used in their products is not only certified organic, but according to their website it is ethically sourced from a collective that they jointly own in India. And if you prefer to use vegan products or have an allergy to wool they also offer a 100% vegan mattress.

   Here is a page on Avocado Mattress website telling more about their wool sourcing.

2. Less pesticides

   Avocado Green Mattress uses GOTS (Global Organic Textile Standard) certified cotton. I always try to support businesses that produce or use GOTS certified fabrics because this certification goes far and wide to ensure sustainable practices during all stages of textile production. It starts with growing cotton organically, which means less harmful pesticides are spread in our environment, flow into our waterways, kill our pollinators and poison the farmers.

   Then this standard also ensures that once cotton is harvested and is turned into fabric it is not treated with harmful toxic chemicals in the process. The GOTS standard also addresses other sustainable aspects of textile production — water management, use of non-toxic dies, as well as workers well-being and fair work environment.

   As you can see supporting business that produce and/or GOTS certified textiles does make a markable difference both for our planet and the people. You can read more about GOTS certification in the Organic clothing: Why it matters post on this blog.

3. Better for the forest and workers

   Natural latex comes from trees through collection of tree sap. Just like GOTS certification for textiles GOLS (Global Organic Latex Standard) certification for latex insures that the trees used in latex manufacturing are grown without pesticides and herbicides, which is better for the workers and of course our planet.

   I was also impressed to learn that Avocado Mattress also jointly owns their GOLS organic certified latex processing facility in Kerala, India.

   And as latex comes from trees I was happy to also learn that Avocado Mattress is also FSC certified. FSC certification ensures sustainable forests management and was founded by Rainforest Alliance.

4. GOTS and GOLS certified facilities

5. Carbon neutral and solar powered

   This company also makes a great effort to offset their carbon footprint by working with Climate Neutral. According to their website in 2019 Avocado Green Mattress became the first mattress company to become carbon neutral, and in 2020 they even went carbon negative, meaning they offset more carbon than they have produced.

6. Biodegradable and recyclable

   And of course as this brand doesn’t use any petroleum-based materials (foams, synthetic textiles) these mattresses are biodegradable.

7. Memeber of the 1% FOR THE PLANET

   By being a member of 1% FOR THE PLANET Avocado Mattress has supported a number of non-profits dedicated to re-foretsation, fighting plastic pollution and supporting various communities around the world. You can see the full list or organization and projects they have supported on this page of their website.

Conclusion

The conclusion is that we are very happy with these mattresses and would recommend them to others.

And we also are very happy to support a business that went to a remarkable length to deliver a wonderful product and customer experience to us, while also taking good care of its workers, collaborating with other ethical businesses and farms. And setting a great example of how we can operate businesses where we not only take from the planet, but also give back.