Hand needle-tufting. It's a time-honored technique dating back to the 17th century — and the reason Avocado mattresses need no chemical adhesives between comfort layers.
How it works
Most mattress manufacturers bond their comfort layers together with chemical adhesives. Avocado uses hand needle-tufting instead — a traditional bedmaker's technique that physically secures every layer of the mattress with fabric tape and organic wool rosettes, without introducing synthetic bonding agents into the layers closest to where you sleep.
The wool tufts act as anchors, pulling through each layer — GOTS-certified organic cotton ticking, GOTS-certified organic wool, and GOLS-certified organic latex — and holding them firmly in place. This prevents the shifting, trenching, and lumping that develops in mattresses whose layers are glued or left unsecured over time, while maintaining the structural integrity that underpins our 25-year warranty.
Every material secured by the tufts — cotton, wool, and latex — is also certified under OEKO-TEX® Standard 100 Class I, independently verified against strict limits on harmful substances.
The hand-tufting process
Tufting is the final step in production. It begins with 10- to 17-inch steel tufting needles, threaded with fabric tape and anchored by decorative rosettes made from organic wool.
The mattress is placed in a specialized compactor that firmly holds and compresses it, rotating it to a vertical orientation so a two-person team can perform the tufting work by hand. The threaded steel needles are punched through every layer of the mattress one by one, in a carefully prescribed alternating pattern, before being tied at the bottom with anchors made from organic wool felt.
Once fully tufted, the compressor releases the mattress. As it expands, the tufts pull taut — creating the distinctive undulations and handcrafted appearance that are hallmarks of a traditionally made mattress.
