We tested Avocado’s most popular mattress at the Avocado store in La Jolla, California. Here are the pros and cons of the Avocado Green Mattress.
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Avocado Green Mattress
Highlights: Eco-Institut, MadeSafe, and GOTS certified hybrid mattress with Dunlop latex, New Zealand wool, recycled steel coils, and GOTS-certified organic cotton. Vegan alternatives available!
- Latex hybrid mattress offering gentle-firm support
- Made with all organic materials and upcycled steel coils
- Rare certification from Made Safe (free of toxic chemicals)
- 5-zoned support and reinforced edging
- Less motion transfer and partner sleep disruption
- Made in the U.S. by a carbon negative B Corp
- Affordable and durable with a 25-year warranty
- 365-night sleep trial
- More sustainably packaged than most mattresses
- One firmness level (can’t flip for different firmness)
- Can’t move comfort layers around
- Only two handles on long sides
At a glance:
- Pricing: $1,399 – $2,599 (Queen is $1,999)
- Materials: Organic Fair Trade cotton, organic wool, organic Dunlop latex, upcycled steel coils
- Certifications: GOTS, GOLS, Made Safe, GreenGuard Gold, Climate Neutral certified, FSC, Responsible Wool Standard, Formaldehyde Free (UL), Eco Institut, Fair Trade, 1% for the Planet, B Corporation, Sustainable Furnishings Council
- Sleep Trial: 365-night sleep trial
- Firmness: Gentle-firm (or medium-firm without pillow-top)
- Best for: Stomach-sleepers and back-sleepers
What we like
The Avocado Green Mattress has been tested and found to satisfy strict criteria for:
- Volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
- Formaldehyde
- Phthalates
- Polyurethane foam
- Toxic fire retardants
- Toxic stain repellents
- Pesticides
- Chemical emissions.
Put simply, you won’t get off-gassing with this mattress and it won’t expose you to hazardous chemicals. Nor does it expose workers or the environment to hazardous chemicals while it’s being made, recycled, or otherwise disposed of.
These mattresses are made in the US, largely by hand, to order, by a reputable, sustainable Benefit Corporation that pays its workers a living wage.
Skilled workers button-tuft each mattress by hand to anchor the mattress layers without need for chemical adhesives.
Packaging and sustainability
Avocado ships its non-toxic mattresses using more sustainable packaging. A few years ago, Avocado began reducing how much plastic it wrapped its mattresses in. These days, it ships many mattresses in just a single plastic vacuum bag and paper wrap instead of extra plastic.
Avocado is a Benefit Corporation and 1% for the Planet member, meaning that it donates at least 1% of profits to environmental initiatives. It is also a Climate Neutral certified company that reduces emissions where possible and uses CarbonFund to more than offset remaining emissions. It has been Climate Neutral since 2019, and was the first mattress brand to achieve this certification.
Not one to rest on its laurels, Avocado is aiming to further reduce its scope 1 and 2 emissions by 50% from its 2021 level by 2030.
Avocado offers a 100-night sleep trial with free shipping and returns. Mattresses ship in a single box, and Avocado offers in-home delivery service for a flat-fee anywhere in the USA, including Hawaii and Alaska. It can also remove and recycle your old mattress.
Avocado mattresses have a 25-year warranty, with full replacement value and free return pickup service for the first 10 years (pro-rated after that). Customer service seems to be above and beyond at Avocado, with many happy customers lauding its commitment to making sure you have a good experience and the perfect mattress. All this and it has been the number one hybrid latex-innerspring mattress recommended by Consumer Reports since 2018.
Comparing Avocado Mattresses
Our tour of the Avocado facility gave us the unique ability to see cross-sections of the various mattresses Avocado makes. We have included photos below and want to say a big thank you to the Avocado team for suggesting we look inside the mattress construction. This lets you see how different mattresses have different coil units and how that could affect mattress performance. The luxury mattress, for instance, has two separate coil units of different gauges, while all mattresses have individually wrapped coils to isolate motion and improve durability.
From top left to bottom: Avocado Green Mattress, Avocado Luxury Organic Mattress, and Avocado Eco Organic mattress.
What’s inside
The Avocado Green and Vegan mattresses have four side grips for easy handling. The Green weighs 119 pounds, and the Green Pillowtop weighs 130 pounds. The Green has an 11-inch profile and the pillowtop adds two inches to that.
The entire Avocado Green Mattress is GREENGUARD Gold Certified® by UL Environment (rather than just select components). It contains 3 inches of natural Dunlop latex and is constructed as follows (listed from top to bottom):
- Organic Cotton Ticking — 100% GOTS organic certified (wraps whole mattress).
- Natural Hydrated Silica Fire Barrier
- Organic Wool — 1 ounce per sq. ft. — 100% GOTS organic certified and OEKO-TEX Standard 100 certified wool
- Natural Dunlop Latex — D65 / 14-19 ILD, Soft, 2 inches — eco-INSTITUT® certified.
- Leggett & Platt Quantum Edge® Elite Combi-Zone®— Up to 1,414 pocketed support coils in 3 zones with 2 reinforced perimeters.
- Natural Dunlop Latex — D65 / 14-19 ILD, Soft, 1 inch — eco-INSTITUT certified.
- Cotton Canvas — 100% GOTS organic certified, Herringbone pattern.
For the Avocado Vegan Mattress, 100% GOTS organic certified cotton batting replaces the organic wool.
Avocado even uses OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 Certified wool and cotton sewing thread for stitching and embroidery.
Flame retardants
Both the Vegan and the Green mattresses use hydrated silica as the primary fire barrier. Hydrated silica is naturally derived from silica (silicon dioxide), an abundant compound that forms about 12 percent of the earth’s surface. Basically, silicon dioxide is found in nature as sand or quartz.
To make hydrated silica, sand is heated with sodium carbonate and dissolved in water to form liquid sodium silicate. This liquid is then mixed with an acid to make hydrated silica, an odorless, tasteless, white powder.
Hydrated silica has a long history of safe use as an ingredient in food products and is listed by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to be Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS). It is inert and acts as a non-toxic natural flame retardant. In the case of the silica used by Avocado, it is manufactured in a U.S. facility that does not produce crystalline silica in any capacity.
Performance
Consumer Reports highly rates the Avocado Green mattress and pillow-top for durability and found that the mattress and pillow-top combination offers Very Good support for almost all types of sleepers but middling support for large and tall back sleepers.
The Avocado Green mattress by itself has the top rating for support and durability, with no noticeable changes in performance after eight years of simulated use. Also of note, the pillow-top model sleeps warmer than the mattress by itself.
The zoned support comes courtesy of individually wrapped recycled steel coils that also help reduce motion transfer. We think the zoning could be improved, though, and there may be some issues with ‘bounce’ for larger and more active sleepers. The coils are high-quality, single-tempered steel, giving extended performance and durability.
Consumer Reports found that the “Avocado Green without the pillowtop provides better support for more body sizes and sleep styles”, earning it top spot for innerspring mattress. However, the Avocado Green Pillowtop is a better option if you like a softer mattress that’s a little warmer.
Avocado Green vs. the competition
The Avocado Green Mattress Pillowtop is a very good option for sleepers of all sizes and shapes, although the Avocado Green mattress without the pillow top is better for large or tall back-sleepers.
Avocado carries more green certifications than most other mattress makers and is also much more active in terms of charitable giving. Savvy Rest, Swiss Dream Beds, My Green Mattress, and PlushBeds, do have some charitable endeavors, but these are no match for those of Avocado.
Avocado’s Vegan Mattress (which contains coils) is one of the best options for a wool-free mattress. Other good options include the PlushBeds Natural Bliss (all-latex) (see our review, View Prices on PlushBeds) or Naturepedic EOS Trilux (all-latex) (see our review, view on Naturepedic).
For quick reference, Avocado has a 100-night sleep trial and a 25-year limited warranty, which is the same as My Green Mattress. The latter company will work with you to donate a mattress to a local charity if, after your free trial, you decide not to keep it, and will then send you a refund once the donation is confirmed. Savvy Rest doesn’t allow returns at all. Most Naturepedic mattresses come with a 100-night sleep trial, free returns, and a limited Lifetime warranty.
Final thoughts
If you’re looking for a good balance of affordability and quality, Avocado’s Green Mattress is a top choice. Avocado is a company that gives back, has great eco-credentials, and is socially responsible. The Avocado Green Mattress offers excellent comfort and durability, and for a vegan innerspring mattress, Avocado easily rivals Naturepedic’s EOS for top spot.
For a more budget option, consider Happsy (see our review), especially if you want a firmer mattress better for stomach-sleeping.
Avocado Green Mattress
Highlights: Eco-Institut, MadeSafe, and GOTS certified hybrid mattress with Dunlop latex, New Zealand wool, recycled steel coils, and GOTS-certified organic cotton. Vegan alternatives available!
Avocado Green Mattress FAQ
Avocado has a gentle-firm standard Avocado Green mattress that is great if you’re a back or stomach sleeper. For side sleepers or anyone looking for back pain relief, the pillow-top mattress is a great option. Both mattresses have zoned support for hip and shoulders, and they have reinforced edging.
The Vegan mattress uses all the same materials as the Green except for the wool. Instead, the Vegan mattress predominantly uses cotton where the Green uses wool. The description for the Vegan mattress gets a little confusing in regard to the yarn used to hold the cotton batting in place. In one place Avocado says that it uses acrylic yarn to cap the button tufts, but elsewhere it states that it uses cotton yarn rosettes. I asked for clarity and was told via email that Avocado uses acrylic yarn in the Vegan mattress but is aiming to switch to GOTS cotton for all the stitching.
The Avocado Vegan Mattress, Green Pillows, Mattress Protector and Vegan Latex Mattress Toppers are certified by Vegan Action.