Our Verdict
Of all the mattresses we’ve tested, Avocado is a brand that stands out for its sustainable yet high-quality latex mattresses. Its efforts are decorated by an impressive number of certifications, and being carbon-neutral adds value to its brand. At CNET, we’ve loved the Avocado Green Mattress for its hypoallergenic properties and medium-firm construction. Still, it uses certified organic wool, which isn’t as great of a choice if you’re a lifestyle vegan.
To cater to more customers, Avocado constructed a vegan mattress — with certified organic cotton — and we’ve put it to the test to see how it fares.
First impressions of the Avocado Vegan mattress
I have unboxed several Avocado mattresses over the years (The Avocado Green, Eco-Organic and beds from Avocado’s sister brand, Brentwood Home), and despite the brand being one of the most “eco-friendly” out there, the beds were still packed in a large amount of plastic because there was no real way around it to ship the mattress properly.
With the Avocado Vegan Mattress, the outer layer of plastic was actually replaced with a layer of recyclable paper, which I’ve never seen before. I would expect this to be the expectation with Avocado mattresses going forward with the brand being committed to sustainability.
The mattress itself had virtually no off-gassing process at all thanks to its hybrid design and other construction elements like latex foam. Once we removed the inner layer of plastic, the bed fully inflated and was in its proper shape in a matter of minutes. This is what we typically see with latex foam hybrid beds like the Avocado Vegan mattress.
Overall, it reminded me of the Avocado Green mattress and the Eco-Organic mattress, which is exactly what it is designed to be with one key exception.
Avocado Vegan mattress policies
Free shipping
The Avocado Vegan mattress will ship directly to your door, at no extra cost, via FedEx or UPS inside of a large box if you live in the contiguous US. Extra shipping costs will be applied if you ship to Alaska or Hawaii: Avocado now has a Canadian website and also ships to most of the country for free.
The Avocado Vegan mattress is very heavy, up to 177 pounds, so make sure you don’t try to unbox it alone. We recommend unboxing every mattress with help, but a bed like this will be more necessary than others.
365-night trial
Most Avocado mattresses, including the Vegan mattress, come with a full 365-night trial period, which is the longest trial period we see for online mattresses. That gives you a full year to determine whether the bed is right for you.
Return policy
If you decide, after the first 30 nights, that the bed isn’t for you for whatever reason, you can return it and get a refund minus a $99 return fee.
Returning a mattress is pretty easy: All you have to do is contact the company, and the brand will send someone from your local area to pick up the mattress. Most of the time the bed will get donated somewhere near you.
Warranty
The Avocado Vegan mattress, and most of its other beds, come with a 25-year warranty, which is significantly longer than the usual online mattress standard of 10 years.
Construction and feel
The base model of the Avocado Vegan mattress is roughly 11 inches thick and has a few different layers.
The bottommost layer is a thick layer of pocketed coils that functions as the primary support layer of the mattress. The number of coils in the Avocado Vegan mattress is higher than in other brands and is built with a zoned-support structure, which means the coils will be a bit firmer in the center of the mattress to provide targeted support. The coils are also made of recycled steel to improve the sustainability of the mattress.
Above the coil layer is a 3-inch-thick layer of certified organic Talalay latex foam. This latex is harvested from fair-trade farms in India and Guatemala.
Between the latex foam and the cover of the Vegan mattress is a thick layer of certified organic cotton to add a bit more comfort to the bed. This is also the key difference between the Vegan mattress and the Green mattress. The Vegan mattress uses a thicker of organic cotton, which replaces the certified organic wool that’s used in the Green mattress. Replacing the wool with additional cotton is what makes the Vegan mattress vegan because it doesn’t use any animal products like wool.
To my knowledge, the Avocado Vegan mattress is the only certified vegan mattress that we’ve tested. Most beds we test that don’t use natural and organic natural are usually vegan by default, but I haven’t seen this certification on any other bed.
The cover on the Avocado Vegan mattress is also made with certified organic cotton and uses a needle tufting method that avoids using any glues or other adhesives.
The overall feel of the mattress is what we usually see with most latex hybrid mattresses. Latex foam has a very specific type of feel; it provides a springy, spongy and cushioned feel that makes you almost feel buoyant on top of the mattress. The feel is also a lot more responsive than your average bed that uses other types of foam, especially memory foam so the mattress moves with you when you rotate from your back to your side.
I like to think about the feel of a latex foam mattress like the Avocado Vegan being basically the exact opposite of a memory foam mattress that has a slow-to-respond, sink-in and body-conforming quality.
If you really enjoy memory foam, I might look elsewhere for your next mattress, but for everyone else, I think you’ll find it comfortable, as long as you’re open to something maybe a bit different than what you’re used to.
Avocado Vegan mattress certifications
The Avocado Vegan mattress has a truly impressive number of certifications for nearly all of its construction materials. I mentioned it a bit in the previous section, but the latex foam is certified organic, the cotton is certified organic, the brand itself is certified climate neutral and is a certified B corporation. All the info about Avocado’s certifications can be found here.
If you’re looking for the most eco-friendly and sustainably sourced mattress out there, Avocado is easily one of the best brands, and if you’re interested in a vegan mattress that uses zero animal products, I would guess an eco-friendly and ethical mattress is also of interest to you.
Firmness and sleeper types
In our testing, we found the firmness profile of the base model of the Avocado Vegan mattress to be quite firm, close to a true firm on our scale, or an eight to 10 out of 10.
This mattress is ideal for back, stomach and certain combo sleepers who don’t spend much time on their side because it won’t provide much pressure relief, and most people will likely wind up with some hip or shoulder pain if they try to sleep on their side.
Luckily, just like on the Avocado Green mattress, there is an optional pillow top you can purchase that adds two extra inches of latex foam, which softens the mattress down to about a medium-firm, or a six to eight out 10.
Even with this pillow top, I don’t necessarily recommend it for side sleepers, but it will be more accessible to people who spend part of the night on their side.
The Avocado Green mattress has an optional “box pillow top” that makes the mattress even softer, but as of right now that option isn’t available on the Vegan mattress because it contains wool.
If you really want the Vegan mattress to be even softer than a medium-firm, you could purchase an additional topper that’s also vegan, but it won’t be stitched onto the mattress.
Avocado Vegan mattress performance
Edge support
During my testing, I didn’t feel any roll-off sensation putting my weight along the edge of the mattress. Since this is a firmer bed, you don’t sink into it much, and the coils along the perimeter of the Vegan mattress are extra reinforced, making the edge support solid.
This is especially important for couples sharing a mattress because you might end up sleeping near the edge of the bed, despite your partner’s best intentions.
Motion isolation
The Avocado Vegan mattress is a bit below average in terms of its ability to isolate cross-mattress motion. Latex foam is more responsive than pretty much any other foams I’ve tested and combined with the coils, it doesn’t work as well as other beds, especially memory foam beds.
We don’t see this being a deal breaker for the vast majority of sleepers. However, if you’re a really light sleeper who wakes up easily if your partner tosses and turns, it could happen more on this bed than others.
Temperature regulation
The Avocado Vegan mattress doesn’t feature any active cooling elements like a phase-change material woven into the cover, but thanks to the nature of the materials, it should help you sleep without warming up too much.
Pocketed coils, latex foam and organic cotton are all naturally breathable, especially in comparison to certain types of memory foam. Plus, you sleep more on top of this mattress rather than “in” the mattress, which should aid in sleeping temperature neutral as well.
Avocado Vegan mattress pricing
Size | Measurements (inches) | Price |
Twin | 35×75 inches | $1,399 |
Twin XL | 38×80 inches | $1,499 |
Full | 54×75 inches | $1,899 |
Queen | 60×80 inches | $1,999 |
King | 76×80 inches | $2,699 |
Cal king | 72×84 inches | $2,699 |
The Avocado Vegan mattress is a fairly expensive option, and most beds from Avocado as a brand are going to cost more than your average bed-in-a-box. This makes a lot of sense because Avocado puts a lot of effort into ensuring that the materials used in its beds meet high sustainability and environmental standards, so it will naturally cost a bit more.
The Avocado Eco Organic mattress has a similar design to the Avocado Green and Vegan beds and is much more affordable, with some sacrifices like fewer coils and not being vegan.
You can expect some kind of discount on the Avocado Vegan mattress around major holidays, but we don’t typically see year-round discounts from Avocado as a brand.
Make sure you check out our mattress deals page for the most to update pricing and discounts.
Final verdict
The question, “Who should get the Avocado Vegan mattress?” has a very simple answer. If you’re a lifestyle vegan who avoids all animal products and you want a mattress that uses natural, organic and sustainably sourced materials, this is the mattress for you.
Most beds are generally vegan by default, but most mattresses in the natural and organic sector usually contain sheep’s wool. This is the only bed we’ve tested so far that is “certified vegan.” This bed is essentially the exact same as the Avocado Green but with extra organic cotton as a substitute for the wool, and we regard that bed very highly so it’s easy to recommend the Avocado Vegan mattress for anyone avoiding animal products in their life.
If you’re just looking for a latex foam bed, there are plenty of other options out there at more affordable prices, usually with fewer certifications compared to Avocado.
You might like the Avocado Vegan mattress if:
- You want a mattress with the highest number of organic certifications
- You want a certified vegan mattress
- You’re willing to pay a higher price point for a vegan mattress
- You’re seeking a hybrid mattress
- You want a mattress with a firm profile
You might not like the Avocado Vegan mattress if:
- You want a bed with cooling features
- You want a memory foam feel
- You’re shopping with a strict budget
- You’re seeking an all-foam mattress
Other mattresses from Avocado
Avocado Green Mattress: The Avocado Green mattress is pretty similar to the Avocado Vegan mattress, only that it uses certified organic wool in its construction as opposed to a thicker layer of cotton. The Avocado Green mattress also has a “box pillow-top” option that isn’t available on the Vegan mattress.
Avocado Eco Organic Mattress: The Avocado Eco Organic mattress is designed to be the most affordable mattress from Avocado. It still features a huge number of certifications and uses latex foam as its primary comfort layer. The biggest difference, besides the price, is that it’s a bit less generous with the provided trial period and warranty, 100 nights and 10 years, and it has fewer coils in its support layer.
Read more: Avocado Mattress Review
How does the Avocado Vegan mattress compare to similar mattresses?
Avocado Vegan vs. WinkBed Eco Cloud
The WinkBed Eco Cloud is the natural latex hybrid offering from the brand WinkBed. It doesn’t have as many organic certifications as Avocado, but it has plenty enough to be considered an excellent natural and organic option. It does use wool in its construction, so it’s not vegan, but it’s more affordable than the Avocado Vegan, even with the optional pillow top.
Avocado Vegan vs. Awara Natural Hybrid
The Awara Natural Hybrid is one of the most affordable latex foam hybrid beds that we’ve ever tested. I have seen it discounted as low as $2,000 for a queen size, which is very low for a latex mattress. It doesn’t have as many certifications as the Avocado Vegan mattress, and it isn’t vegan because it contains wool.
