There is provided a method for controlling environmental allergens in articles including toys, bedding, clothing and the like that tend to collect house dust mite and other allergens. One method involves seeding an article with house dust mites, exposing the article to conditions that promote accelerated growth of house dust mites (10, block 100), washing the article to remove house dust mites (20, block 200), testing the washed article to determine that the level of dust mite remaining in the washed article is below a predetermined level (50, block 200), repeating the washing step a number of times approximating the number of washes the article is expected to undergo during its normal useful lifetime (20, block 200) and finally passing the article through a series of quality control tests (30 and 40 block 300) so that the article may be assured as washable to control its mite and allergen levels without loss of integrity and safety over a plurality of wash cycles.