First, let’s define vegan bedding
As you might have guessed, vegan bedding excludes all animal derived materials. The most commonly used materials in traditional bedding are down feathers, silk, horsehair and wool. These materials are not only cruel to animals and unsustainable, but they can also cause allergies. Taking into consideration that we spend an average of one third of our lives in bed, it is worthwhile considering the materials we surround ourselves with.
Typically, the term bedding refers to pillows, duvets, blankets, bed sheets, fitted sheets, duvet covers, pillow cases, mattress covers and comforters. However, to provide you with a complete overview of everything that needs to be considered for a good night’s sleep, I will also include mattresses.
Ethical, environmental and social justice issues with traditional bedding materials
I’m going to highlight some of the issues with traditional materials used in bedding and mattresses and share some natural vegan bedding alternatives and vegan mattresses.
Down Feathers
Down feathers come from geese or ducks. China is the world’s leading producer of down, where most animals are live plucked about 6 times per year. Life plucking is extremely painful and traumatising for the animal and often leads to open wounds and infections. Sick birds are left to die. It takes about 12 ducks or geese to make one pillow.
Although life plucking is illegal in most countries and there are a number of certifications, such as RDS (Responsible Down Standard), the industry is not very transparent and investigative reports have shown that around 60% of down is live plucked. Much like wool, down can also present a breeding ground for bacteria and dust mites leading to respiratory issues. At the same time, there are lots of chemicals used to treat the feathers, which can lead to skin irritations.
There’s a wide range of vegan friendly pillows, including these kapok pillows from nsleep. (Photo: nsleep)
The best vegan pillows
There are plenty of options nowadays for vegan eco friendly pillows. The best vegan alternatives to down pillows are filled with natural latex, kapok, buckwheat hulls, millet hulls or hemp. However, you’ll not only find lots of vegan friendly pillows on the market, but also vegan duvets, most commonly filled with kapok, tencel, eucalyptus, bamboo or hemp.
Silk
Traditional silk derives from the cocoons of silkworm larvae, which are either steamed, boiled or gassed alive while still In the pupa stage. For 1 kg of silk around 6600 silk worms are killed, in other words it takes around 12’000 silkworms to make a silk comforter. Similar to animal leathers, silk is one of the most environmentally damaging materials according to the Higgs Index, using even more water as well as bleach than cotton during the manufacturing process.
To make matters worse, child labour is still very common in the silk industry, where children as young as five years old are forced to work 12 hour shifts six and a half days a week in silk factories in India. This not only keeps them from attending school and from a chance of a better future, but they also suffer from health issues by dipping their little fingers in boiling water, by handling dead worms and by inhaling toxic fumes.
It’s worthwhile investing in quality non-toxic vegan materials in your bedroom. (Photo: Phil A. Finkel)
Vegan silk bedding
Silk is often used in luxury bedding, such as bedsheets, pillow cases, duvet covers, blankets and comforters, but sometimes silk is also used in mattresses. Luckily, there is a wide range of vegan cruelty free bedding very similar to silk. The most common vegan silk alternatives are bamboo silk and banana silk, however, there’s also citrus silk and cactus silk. Even tencel can give you that silk like texture. In addition, you’ll find vegan friendly bedding made from organic cotton, hemp and linen.
This vegan duvet is filled with Kapok, a natural non-toxic material known for its hypoallergenic and temperature regulating properties. (Photo: nsleep)
Horsehair
While the industry claims that horsehair is an end of life product from sporting and domestic horses, which are ethically questionable practices in themselves, I couldn’t find any type of third-party certifications that would confirm that to be true. At the same time, most horsehair is sourced from South America and from Mongolia, providing little to no transparency as to how exactly the material was sourced. The long-distance transportation routes, the extensive use of water for washing and the energy used for steaming the horsehair at high temperatures don’t make it a very environmentally friendly material either. In addition, much like any animal derived product, the exposure to it can cause allergic reaction.
Vegan friendly alternatives to horsehair
Horsehair is mostly used in mattresses and can be easily replaced with coconut fibres or hemp.
Wool, Cashmere and Mohair
Most people don’t see wool as a cruel products. After all, sheep need to be shorn, right? While this is true, it is only so, because sheep were genetically manipulated to grow more skin and more wool than they naturally would. This leads to skin folds that retain a lot of moisture and as a result turn into a breeding ground for flies who lie their eggs within these folds, especially around their bottom. This is referred to as flystrike, which can be deadly for the sheep. This is obviously bad for the wool industry. As a result, wool farmers came up with an extremely cruel procedure called mulesing, where they cut off flaps of skin from around a lamb’s bottom without any anesthesia in order to avoid infections.
The shearing process itself is often very violent, because it’s all about speed and volume. Undercover footage and reports from ex-shearers show that sheep often get kicked, cut and are basically treated like an object rather than a sentient being. In addition to the ethical issues, the wool industry is also a major contributor of methane gas emissions and as such a contributor to global warming and climate change. In New Zealand alone, animals, mostly sheep, produce around 90% of the nation’s methane gas emissions. Wool is also a breeding ground for dust mites, which can cause respiratory issues and even asthma. Many people are sensitive to wool (in clothing) and people on the autism spectrum can experience sensory issues with wool in their surroundings.
Cashmere and mohair, which derive from goats instead of sheep present similar ethical and environmental issues, just on a smaller scale.
Kapok is a sustainable vegan material ideal for bedding. (Photo: nsleep)
Vegan alternatives to wool
Much like horsehair, wool is mostly used in mattresses and of course wool blankets. Kapok, which is a natural fibre harvested from the kapok tree aka silk cotton tree, is an organic vegan friendly alternative. Kapok is not only a very eco-friendly and sustainable material, but also water resistant, which makes it naturally hypoallergenic. As mentioned earlier, Kapok fibre is also used in its natural form as filling for pillows and bedding, layers in mattresses, but also processed into luxurious fabrics for fashion.
Vegan sustainable bedding is not just for vegans
Taking the above into consideration, I think itâs safe to say that vegan bedding is not only for vegans, but for anyone, whoâs looking for a more eco-friendly, non-toxic healthy sleep environment. That said, if you are a vegan, you’ve probably already embarked on the journey of veganising your life, whether that be vegan fashion, vegan leather goods, vegan beauty products or a vegan home.
As a vegan myself, I love slipping into my bed, knowing no animal had to suffer for it and that I’m sleeping in a bed that’s not only good for my own health, but also good for the planet.
Instead of a petroleum based foam mattress, you could opt for a vegan mattress made of natural latex, hemp or kapok. (Photo: Canva)
Vegan mattresses, vegan mattress toppers and vegan bedding
While I couldn’t find any 100% vegan mattress brands, there are a growing number of manufacturers around the world that produce vegan mattresses and vegan bedding. Sourcing is an important part of the job for any interior designer, yet as a vegan interior designer, sourcing vegan furniture, vegan home decor and vegan materials, requires extensive additional research. So, if you’re wondering where you can buy your natural vegan mattress and bedding, I’ve got you covered.
When working with clients, vegan and non vegans, I always recommend a chemical free natural vegan latex mattress made from 100% natural organic latex and with layers of either kapok, hemp or coconut coir, depending on their personal preferences in terms of firmness and body temperature.
Below are some brands and manufacturers of the best organic vegan mattresses available.
Vegan mattresses and bedding in Europe
The best vegan mattresses I’ve come across are by German manufacturer Dormiente and Swiss manufacturer allnatura, which are sold at mattress retailers specialised in natural bedding, such as Die Ruheinsel in Germany.
Vegan mattresses in the USA and Canada
If you’re based in the USA, Canada or the Caribbean you can check out the GOTS certified and PETA-Approved vegan mattress by Naturepedic or the Avocado Vegan mattress by Avocado Green, a B Corp certified mattress and bedding manufacturer that boasts a myriad of other third party certifications including GOTS, GOLS and Made Safe.
For vegan pillows, vegan duvets, vegan mattress covers and vegan baby blankets you can take a look at nsleep.
Does your mattress or bedding contain harmful chemicals?
The majority of mattresses sold out there are made from foam and other synthetic materials. Foam in essence is plastic as it derives from a petrochemical substance. Unfortunately, many mattresses, head boards and bedding products contain harmful chemicals such as formaldehyde and phthalates as well as flame retardants and fibreglass. So when purchasing a new mattress it is therefore important to look out for third party certifications such as Global Organic Textile Standard (GOTS), Global Organic Latex Standard (GOLS) OekoTex Standard 100, Green Guard, USDA Organic and MadeSafe. This way you not only ensure you’ll sleep on a non toxic vegan mattress, but you’ll also vote with your dollars as they say for a more compassionate and sustainable future.
We spend a third of our life sleeping, so having a chemical-free and eco-friendly mattress, that’s free of misery, is an important investment in our personal health and wellbeing.
With compassion,
Simone xx
Sources:
Vegan Interior Design (book) by Aline DĂŒrr
www.peta.org
