[3][10][11] Demand for the unassuming footwear grew with the wave of immigration in Argentina during the 1880s, and by 1890, Alpargatas had established a facility in neighboring Uruguay.

[12] The company's growth allowed it to develop larger facilities in 1928 occupying a city block in Buenos Aires' southside Barracas section.

This new, 70,000 m² (740,000 ft²) facility allowed it to diversify its product line, leading to the launching of Flecha, its casual footwear brand, in 1962.

[13] The longtime CEO of Alpargatas, Eduardo Oxenford, was appointed to head federal receivership of the Argentine Industrial Union after the March 1976 coup.

[14] Alpargatas began making PVC-soled footwear in 1983, and in 1987, it secured the country's sole license to manufacture Nike shoes.

[19] Alpargatas gained notoriety when in 1931 local artist Florencio Molina Campos started to illustrate company's calendars with his gaucho-life paintings.