Today arpilleras are created in a number of cooperatives set in the dusty shantytowns of poor and displaced families that ring the capital city of Lima. Often homes are shacks compose of salvaged parts: old doors, panels of straw matting, crating, and corrugated metal. Water must be trucked in to the shantytowns because there are no water or sewage systems.

The small income from the sale of arpilleras provides the only source of income for families displaced from their traditional lives in the mountains. for others, this income allows the family to educate their children, to provide a little better living standard. For all, it develops a sense of community among women who are often from very different customs and cultures. It is also a way to express their creativity. Creation of the arpilleras began in the 1970s. Arpilleras give women ways to communicate with the outside world without being easily recognized.