Most commercial wool processors clean raw wool using acid washes and chemical treatments to strip lanolin and remove vegetable matter efficiently at scale. Avocado uses only water and a gentle GOTS-approved soap. No acids, no chlorine-based pre-treatments, no synthetic chemical inputs at any stage of scouring.
What GOTS Requires
GOTS finished-product certification — which Avocado holds under license CU863637 — sets enforceable constraints on how certified materials are processed, not just what they're made of. For wool processing, GOTS explicitly prohibits toxic inputs, including synthetic dyes and chlorine-based treatments used for scouring and descaling. It also requires that wastewater discharged from cleaning and other wool processing stages is treated before release — a requirement that most conventional wool processors are not held to.
Our Processing Facility
After shearing, Avocado's wool is cleaned, carded, and combed mechanically at our co-owned GOTS-certified processing facility in northern India — the same facility that operates under Avocado's direct quality and certification standards. Wastewater processing is managed through on-site reclamation infrastructure, in accordance with GOTS requirements. The facility is independently audited annually under GOTS, covering both environmental and social labor standards.
This is a meaningful distinction from brands that source certified organic wool but process it through third-party facilities operating under weaker or unaudited environmental standards. The certification covers the full chain — from the Himalayan pastures where the sheep graze through the processing facility where the fiber is cleaned — not just the raw material at the point of shearing.
The Result
Wool processed under these constraints is certified to OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 Class I — the highest OEKO-TEX category, designed for products used by babies and toddlers — alongside the five other finished-product certifications Avocado holds across its full mattress lineup.
For more on our wool sourcing — 325,500+ sheep, 38,000+ hectares of Himalayan grassland, and the transhumance farming practices behind our RWS and COR certifications — see Does Wool Sleep Hot? Why Organic Wool Is the Best Natural Temperature Regulator for Mattresses.