Vegan Mattress Buying Guide: Our Chemical-Free & Hand Made 100% Plant-Based Mattresses

Are Mattresses Vegan?

A simple question, with a simple answer: no! An “organic” mattress can easily contain animal-derived fibres, and just because a filling is labelled as “vegan” also doesn’t mean that the upholstery or cover is. Vegan mattresses are a recent trend to hit the online mattress world and this guide is here to help you avoid buying a poor quality vegan-friendly bed. Vegan options in retail have increased phenomenally in recent years, with everything from restaurant menus to shoe options now having vegan alternatives.

However, the mattress world has been relatively stuck in the past when it comes to natural vegan mattress options. To some, a vegan mattress is simply a mattress that doesn’t use any animal by-products in the manufacturing process. However, this interpretation results in many options being made from cheap memory foam. If you’re a vegan or someone who cares about the impact that animal products have on the planet then your new mattress choice will be really important to you.

Trying to find a vegan mattress can be a minefield. More often than not, the search results and stores will just point you to a synthetic memory foam mattress or a mattress that’s primarily filled with chemically-manufactured polyester. These are hardly the most attractive or advanced vegan mattress upholstery fillings, which can make choosing a new vegan mattress really difficult.

However, did you know there’s now a huge selection of plant-based upholstery fibres, meaning your vegan mattress choice can now rival traditional fibres and construction methods? You no longer need to compromise on comfort in your search for a perfect vegan mattress. If you’re looking for an entirely animal-free vegan mattress choice then you have come to the right place. We have a number of vegan mattress options to suit your budget, and bedtime comfort preferences without an animal fibre in sight!

How to choose a Vegan Mattress

• What should I look for in a vegan mattress?
• Vegan mattress upholstery options
• Why you should consider a plant-based natural fibre mattress
• Vegan mattress models
• Why you should avoid foam in a vegan mattress

What should I look for in a Vegan mattress?

When looking for a Vegan mattress you should have the same high standards as when looking for a traditional mattress.

You’re going to be looking for:

• The right support unit for your bodyweight
• Then comfort layers to give the bed the overall ‘feel’
• Upholstery layers that are either plant-based or synthetic

The issue is that many mattress makers are trying to cash in on the rise of Veganism and are simply offering their cheaper synthetic models as ‘Vegan-Friendly’. It’s a bit like a vegan cafe menu that only has one item on it! We’re different because we have actively spent time researching to source the best natural plant fibres. This means you have a truly comparable option to the other natural fibre mattresses.

We’ve road-tested these to create a vegan mattress that compares with the best of the natural fibre mattress models out there. In fact, we would go so far as to say it hands down beats all of the other ‘vegan’ mattress options currently available!

Vegan Mattress Upholstery Options

Part of the problem in finding a non-animal fibre mattress is that mattress manufacturers have been really slow to uptake plant fibres into their mattresses. There’s a whole host of plant fibres, some of which have been used for centuries, which allow mattress manufacturers to make animal-free mattresses. We have listed the plant fibres that can currently be used below. However, when you’re looking around at the bed sellers you’ll notice that hardly any of these are used at the moment in mattress manufacture.

• Coir (Coconut husk) – this has similar rebound properties to Horsehair
• Flax – this is usually an insulator layer and usually replaces Cashmere
• Natural latex from the sap of the rubber tree – used as a comfort or replacement Wool layer
• Bamboo fibre – A super-soft luxury fibre used in the top comfort layers
• Hemp – A firmer layer used as an insulator
• Tampico – Mexican Agave fibre used by Savoir
• Cotton – softer than polyester and high loft also used as a comfort layer
• Cocolok (Latex covered Coir) – The rubberised Coir makes it ideal as a horsetail replacement

Plant fibres offer a Vegan alternative to animal fibres

Plant fibres such as Flax, Coir and Hemp have been used for centuries as resilient natural textiles. However, they are still relatively unused by many mattress manufacturers, who prefer cheaper more readily available synthetic foam alternatives. In contrast, we’ve been using plant fibres for some time now in our handmade mattress range.

They offer a breathable resilient quality to mattress upholstery that far outperforms polyester and foams. They also can help you move away from plastic fibres in vegan mattresses. Plant fibres also help the environment, as they store carbon (compared to the high carbon usage in foam production). As a final benefit, the breathable environment that’s created by plant fibres is much more inhospitable for dust mites than some cheaper mattresses, and their moisture-wicking nature makes them resistant to mould, mildew and other allergens.

Alternative Vegan Mattresses made in the UK

If you’re looking for a vegan mattress then here at John Ryan we have a number of options to suit your budget and comfort preferences. If you can’t stretch to the 100% Plant Fibre Artisan Latex then we have some other options which rival or outperform the other vegan mattresses on the market. Our alternative is the Origins Reflex, which is a firmer feel. This is still a hand-made pocket spring mattress with generous fillings of polyester and man-made fibres. (Please note this model uses wool tufts but the rest of the fibres are all synthetic and not made from animal fibres.)

What’s wrong with using foam for a Vegan mattress?

Many boxed mattresses such as Casper, Eve & Simba state they are vegan-friendly mattresses. Whilst technically true, this doesn’t necessarily mean their one size fits all mattress models will be entirely suitable for your individual sleeping needs. This is especially true if you’re a hot sleeper or need to move quickly during the night (i.e. if you have a sport or back injury where you frequently need to turn when you’re in bed). The issue with having to choose foam for your vegan mattress choice is two-fold.

1. Firstly, foam mattresses are incredibly hot. They actively retain heat, meaning that your bed can soon become a furnace in the warmer months.
2. The second issue is that most foam mattresses are only one-sided. This means that you can’t turn the mattress to even out wear, You’re effectively buying a mattress with half the lifespan of a traditional two-sided mattress.

You will notice that 99% of all vegan mattresses out there are relying on polyester as their main fibre which, whilst technically vegan-friendly, is both man-made and synthetic. When searching for a vegan mattress, you’re probably wanting to stick to natural fibres as much as possible. The benefit of natural fibres is that they are far more breathable and resilient when compared to polyester and foams, which compress far more quickly. Just because you’re a vegan doesn’t mean you need to settle for synthetic upholstery that seriously limits your choices.