When we think about textile certification, materials and production processes often come to mind first. For Avocado Green Mattress, however, preparing for certification also involves people across the organisation.
“We’re not just checking boxes,” says Laura Scott from Avocado Green Mattress. “Preparing for each GOTS audit isn’t a box-checking exercise. It’s a process that brings our teams together around a shared mission.”
Avocado Green Mattress operates with 686 employees across the United States and produces around 15,000 products each month. Its range includes bedding, mattresses and furniture, with qualifying products covered by different certification programmes.
For Avocado, preparing for GOTS audits has also become an opportunity for teams to work together around the requirements that apply within the company’s certification scope. That matters because GOTS is not limited to requirements relating to materials and textile processing. The Standard also includes defined social and human rights due diligence requirements within its certification scope.
For Avocado, working with those requirements involves people across different parts of the business. Annual audit preparation brings teams together to share knowledge, review documents, update systems and revisit relevant policies and procedures.
“One of the most meaningful outcomes of becoming GOTS-certified has been the transformation within our workforce, especially in material handling and manufacturing,” the company explains.
For Avocado, that experience has made certification more than an external process. Employees participate by reviewing policies, recording training and discussing how applicable requirements are implemented in their areas of work.
“This increased visibility into why we do what we do has raised our team’s understanding and pride in their work,” Avocado notes.
These experiences offer an interesting perspective on what happens behind a certification audit. Certification depends not only on written requirements, but also on organisations understanding what those requirements mean for the activities within their certification scope and being able to demonstrate how they are implemented.
For Avocado, preparing for this independent assessment has created a recurring opportunity for coordination between departments and for employees to deepen their understanding of the requirements relevant to their work. The company also sees certification as a collective effort.
“GOTS is only as strong as the collective of brands that uphold it,” the company says.
For Avocado, the value of certification therefore extends beyond communicating that qualifying products meet a defined standard. The process also involves people across the organisation working with documented requirements, training, procedures and evidence in preparation for independent assessment.
That is the part of Avocado’s story we want to highlight: the people behind the certification process and the work involved in putting defined requirements into practice. Because behind every certificate are not only standards and audits, but people learning how those requirements apply to the work they do.
