Intensifying social and environmental challenges demands restructuring sustainable design frameworks in which communities’ resilience and empowerment are at the forefront. This research draws insights into that by engaging with textile-making communities located across Northern Ireland and Umeå/Sweden to examine their role in creating and networking resistance. It contributes to recognizing social and collective dimensions of sustainability by exploring how textile-making practices foster agency and solidarity. To examine the textile communities’ making practices, the intersection of three key concepts is used: craftivism by Greer (2008), third places theorized by Oldenburg (1989), and communities of practice drawing on Wenger’s (1998) framework. These concepts create a unique lens to examine textile communities’ contributions to reframing sustainability that reflects on cultural and collective aspects. Discussions and empirical data gathered show that involvement in collective textile-making can heal the broken connections between production and consumption as well as increase the well-being of individuals and communities. The paper concludes by providing suggestions to reshape design practice that accommodates collectives as crucial actors of fashion production networks. By understanding the adaptiveness of the textile communities to uncertainties and complexities, design practice can embrace “dancing with complexity” and co-create alternative structures and relations.