Craft, playing a significant role in the story of sustainable fashion design, is a deep-rooted tradition in Turkish society. Besides the symbolic meaning of the hand-made, by generating emotional bounds it hinders consumers from throwing their products away (Clark, 2008). Therefore it is used as a design strategy to eliminate waste. Moreover, many of the Turkish craft techniques are based primarily on the reuse of the old and wasted materials. Over the last few years, many women-centred initiatives and cooperatives started to value craft and labour-intensive production outside of a home. However, many traditional craft techniques are on the verge of extinction since the Turkish youth is not willing to learn them. It is an uneasy fact that in design education, craft-based practices, and collaborative work are generally ostracized. However, craft based practices promise to be valuable methods for the development of sustainable design in developing countries. Regarding the current situation of craft and design education, the aim of this research is to explore how design education can be re-contextualized in order to generate social change, stimulate collective production and question the hierarchies in the existing system. The main objective of the study is to generate alternative ways of learning and designing through craft and upcycling. Therefore; in addition to the literature review, a case study has been conducted. As part of the case study, a small group of volunteer Textile and Fashion Design students were asked to collaborate with a women's cooperative and create a collection of accessories collaboratively.