Mattresses are our first recommendation - alongside bedding and pillows - when it comes to transitioning a home to Non-Toxic decor. As they should be - this is the article on which you will spend a third of your life, more or less. And it’s no coincidence that the Organic/Non-Toxic mattress category has seen explosive growth over the last decade. As this is the largest category we’ve reviewed by far, in terms of potential inclusions (and a fair amount of cleanwashing) - the below list is our starting point, to which we’ll be adding as we review in detail additional companies. If a company is not listed yet, it doesn’t mean that they won’t make the cut (though it might!), it may be that we haven’t had the chance to review them yet. 

For Non-Toxic mattresses, what we’re looking to avoid are all the potential inputs and toxic chemicals that are contained in conventional mattresses. Most conventional mattresses are made almost entirely out of petrochemical products - polyurethane foam, and polyester textiles. See our materials section for further details - in a nutshell, polyurethane foam will commonly contain flame retardants, formaldehyde, VOCs, PFAS, phthalates, heavy metals and other endocrine disrupting, reprotoxic and carcinogenic compounds. Polyester can contain an equivalent number of problematic compounds, in addition to shedding microplastics. We do not recommend mattresses made with these materials. Glues are commonly used in mattress construction, and will often be solvent based or contain formaldehyde, and can offgas high levels of VOCs. 

Rather, with Non-Toxic mattresses what we’re looking for is generally speaking natural materials that are cleanly processed. In place of polyurethane foam, this will be 100% natural rubber latex that is cleanly processed. Of the two processing methods, Dunlop latex requires less additives and is considered a cleaner end result - GOLS certification helps to ensure that only the cleanest inputs are used. Talalay latex does require a higher additive load during processing, and the final latex often contains a percentage of synthetic styrene-butadiene rubber - we restrict our Talalay recommendations to 100% natural rubber that is ideally C2C Gold certified. Non-Toxic textiles in mattresses are most often Cotton and Wool - typically, we look for advanced certifications like GOTS.  

Two nuances - many (most) mattresses use springs in their construction. If there is a personal EMF radiation sensitivity to navigate, we recommend a springless (latex) mattress, as the high amount of metal in hybrid or innerspring mattresses can amplify EMF radiation. Separately, for certain bodies, there is a possibility of sensitivity to the protein in latex and/or wool. In these very specific situations, it may be that a full innerspring or polyurethane-based mattress is the better choice. We would first recommend getting a sample of the suspect material, if possible (certain companies will provide this) - and if polyurethane is a necessity, we would recommend ecoINSTITUT certified PU foam as the best option, or to a lesser extent CertiPUR (which we don’t love for many reasons, but will admit is better than conventional PU foam). 

Prioritize Organic Mattresses made with GOLS certified Dunlop Latex or C2C Gold Talalay Latex. Legally speaking, for a company to label a mattress Organic, it must be fully GOTS certified - which means including GOTS certified Cotton and Wool (when used), and limits potential inorganic material to <5% total construction by weight. Claims can be checked against the GOTS company registry. 

Avoid Conventional Mattresses made with synthetic/petrochemical materials and containing high chemical loads. This includes CertiPUR polyurethane foam (see our certification section). Good to be somewhat wary of Organic claims that are not substantiated - this can be cleanwashing. Equally, see our certification section on Greenguard Gold - we have somewhat conflicting thoughts when it comes to how Greenguard is used as marketing within the mattress category.