Put your worries to bed by supporting your sleep cycle with non-toxic bed frames. Why? Because a nightmarish 9.8 million tons: that’s the amount of furniture that ends up in landfills every.single.year.
If that doesn’t make you toss and turn, then maybe the volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and formaldehyde in your old bed frame might—literally, considering studies have found that exposure to VOCs negatively affects sleep health and even sleep disorders.
While VOCs are likely not the only reason 25% of Americans suffer from insomnia (cough, cough blue light before bed and dysregulated circadian rhythms), switching to a non-off-gassing bed frame is one of the easiest steps we can take toward better sleep.
So to that end, we’ve curated a list of options made by brands who not only use safe materials for your health but also ethical labor and transparent supply chains.
Soon we’ll also be rolling out our new Brand Rating System which assesses brands across a range of sustainability-related criteria, like chemical use and climate impact. You can read more about that here.
We independently research all featured brands and we ask them to confirm their claims. In many cases we personally review recommended products. This post contains affiliate links which means we may earn a commission if you buy something. Learn more here.
Eco-Friendly Bed Frames Putting Those Eco-Woes To Bed
Avocado offers climate-positive furniture, including bed frames, made in the USA from either reclaimed or responsibly sourced local lumber.
Using recycled wood, Thuma‘s focus is circularity, and their GREENGUARD Gold certification ensures your bed frame is completely toxin free.
Index: Sustainable Bed Frame Brands
- Thuma Jump to brand
- Birch Jump to brand
- Avocado Jump to brand
- Quagga Designs Jump to brand
- Brentwood Home Jump to brand
- Medley Jump to brand
- Saatva Jump to brand
Thuma
About Thuma
Price Range: $795–$2,065
Thuma is the self-proclaimed maker of “the perfect platform bed frame”. And we might just have to agree, considering the minimalist, modern foundation is an easy-to-reach height, doesn’t require a box spring, and sports “lifestyle-enhancing details” sure to upgrade any space (along with the planet).
The Bed Frame keeps it simple down to its name and tool-free interlocking Japanese joinery. You can get it in twin all the way up to California King, as well as a separate daybed option.
Thuma’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Sleep soundly on handcrafted repurposed rubberwood—upcycled from rubber tree plantations close to Thuma’s factories. They take sustainable sourcing to a new level, using only trees that have reached the end of their latex-producing years and would otherwise be discarded. The double-strength slats are made with Eco-fi recycled plastic felt, which eliminates those creaky bed noises.
An optional pillow board is made from 100% polyester over non-toxic CertiPUR-US foam.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Thuma’s factory partners in Vietnam and the U.S. hold themselves to high ethical standards. As for what exactly these are, we’ll be reaching out to confirm.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
Each recycled bed frame is GREENGUARD Gold certified, built to last a lifetime, and plants one tree through One Tree Planted. Instead of styrofoam, recycled cardboard is used for protective packaging and their inbound shipping is carbon neutral.
Birch
About Birch
Price Range: $499–$1,299
Birch turns nature into non-toxic nap-worthy products, and they’ve been recognized around the globe (and by us, since we own one) for their premium mattresses and organic mattress toppers. You’ll also find a complete range of bed frame sizes to match, from twin to an XL-California king.
Opt for their Helix adjustable metal base with zero gravity & feet-up functionality, memory settings, and built-in massage technology. Since it’s slatted, it can be used without a box spring, though the Birch Foundation box provides additional support and height.
Birch’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Made with Appalachian hardwood rails, Southern Yellow pine slats, and maple legs—all of which come from FSC-certified locations and species—each piece is CARB-compliant and treated with a water-based finish with zero VOCs or formaldehyde. The compatible Birch Foundation is made with kiln-dried natural spruce.
Supply chain & labor practices:
All Birch products are handcrafted and assembled in the USA.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
Products are backed by a 5-year warranty to ensure functionality. Birch also offsets a portion of its carbon footprint and its manufacturing facilities are Greenguard Gold certified.
Avocado
About Avocado
Price Range: $900–$3,399
Avocado is famous for eco-friendly mattresses but we’ve avo-got-o surprise for you: that’s not all they make. In addition to mattresses and bedding, they make a variety of home furniture goods, including several styles of eco-friendly twin bed frames ranging to Cali King sizes—including a dog bed frame.
Whether you want a minimalist platform with just legs, or a full headboard-frame combo, they have an option for you. A perfect middle ground is the Mid-Century Modern Bed Frame, which features a slatted platform to allow your mattress to the breathe without a box spring, but still has a little flair with a simple headboard.
Avocado’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Avocado uses either reclaimed Douglas fir wood rescued from local sources in California, or FSC-certified solid walnut, pine, maple, and alder woods, finished with VOC and formaldehyde-free sealants.
There’s also an adjustable bed frame made with metal, 100% GOTS organic certified cotton canvas, and rubberwood legs.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Many bed frames are handcrafted in an FSC-certified Los Angeles woodshop, located within the brand’s GOTS-certified mattress factory. As a Certified B-Corp, production teams are paid living wages and enjoy progressive benefits, like family healthcare and three weeks of paid vacation.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
The Sustainable Furnishings Council member and Climate Neutral Certified company offsets more emissions through the Bonneville Environmental Foundation than they generate.
Quagga Designs
About Quagga Designs
Price Range: $485–$575
Named after an extinct South African zebra to symbolize “bringing back quality from extinction”, Quagga Designs brings their unique concepts to life in their sustainable wooden bed frames.
You can choose from three minimalist designs: No Fuss Plus, Tic Tac Toe, and the soon-to-be-released Accordian, which contracts and expands just as the name suggests. Each one is compatible with box springs but can be used without, features interlocking slats that assemble in under ten minutes without tools.
The No Fuss Plus and Accordian styles are even expandable by one size, so you can turn a king into a queen, or single into a double, meaning you can upgrade your mattress without needing another frame.
Quagga Designs’ Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Quagga uses FSC-certified birch finished with linseed oil. Each non-toxic wooden bed frame is CARB P2 Compliant, one of the most stringent regulations regarding formaldehyde emissions.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Because “utilizing all resources available to us here in Canada is our priority” all materials are sourced domestically. Products are also manufactured in Ontario, Canada, through partners whom Quagga regularly visits to ensure safe and fair workplace conditions.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
By utilizing Japanese joinery and “mortise and tenon” techniques they’re able to eliminate unnecessary hardware. This makes assembly simple and provides less room for critical failure. If something does happen within five years, their warranty covers it.
Brentwood Home
About Brentwood Home
Price Range: $189–$2,500
One of the first eco minded mattress brands to hit the bedroom, Brentwood Home makes all things sleep-related, from eco-friendly dog beds for furry family members to frames, foundations, and adjustable bases for you.
While you can step into the modern age with fully adjustable bases, you can also keep it super simple with the likes of just the Easy Metal Bed Frame, containing only five components that require no tools to assemble.
Brentwood Home’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Their Easy Metal Bed Frame is made entirely of reclaimed railroad steel while the Easy Foundation is made of spruce, pine, and fir covered with a woven upholstery. Both are compatible with their adjustable bases, made of steel and a layer of polyester fabric.
Supply chain & labor practices:
Most bed frames are USA-made in a GOLS-certified factory in Los Angeles, with exception of the Easy Foundation, which is imported from Mexico.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
Brentwood is Carbonfund-certified Carbon Neutral and GREENGUARD Gold certified across all mattresses.
Medley
About Medley
Price Range: $2,550–$5,295
You spend roughly a third of your life sleeping, which is why Medley‘s beds and other home furnishings are handmade with natural, non-toxic materials.
You can choose between solid wood and upholstered designs, but since we always value a little extra storage to keep our bedroom free of clutter, we especially like the looks of the Buden Bed, which features not only drawers and footboard shelves, but a headboard that doubles as a bedside (er, bed top?) table.
Medley’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Solid wood options include FSC-certified white maple, American walnut, or American alder finished with water-based, zero VOC glues and all-natural eco Daddy Van’s wax—meaning they’re totally free of fire retardants, heavy metals, ozone depleters, known carcinogens, and phthalates.
Upholstered bed frames are padded with GOLS-certified latex foam wrapped in OEKO-TEX certified wool.
Supply chain & labor practices:
The majority of Medley’s non-toxic furniture is handcrafted in an LA-based California factory.
Saatva
About Saatva
Price Range: $895–$3,095
From organic comforters to mattresses, Saatva brings sophisticated Scandinavian furniture design to your bedroom, like platform and legged upholstered bed frames in various designs depending on how much underbed clearance you need. Since the platform is integrated, no additional foundations or box springs are required.
Those like the classic-meets-contemporary Valencia come with a fully upholstered headboard and all are compatible with their adjustable bases.
Saatva’s Ethical & Sustainability Practices
Materials:
Each one features sustainably sourced hardwood, kiln dried to ensure it won’t warp, steel legs, and premium plywood slats. The upholstered exterior is either made of a cotton/poly “vintage velvet”, naturally dyed linen, or leather. But since they don’t provide specifics of how their leather is sourced and processed, we suggest avoiding these models.
Supply chain & labor practices:
We know Saatva manufactures their bedding in a Fair Trade Certified factory in India and their mattresses and organic comforters in the USA, but we haven’t heard a response as to where their furniture is crafted.
Carbon comittments & green practices:
Saatva prioritizes durability, as seen in the premium woods and fortified joints of their bed frames and lifetime warranty on all mattresses—and a mattress recycling service when it does wear out. With nearly 150 fulfilment centers, most deliveries travel fewer than 100 miles.