A History of Mods and Rockers in Britain.
One of the main differences between the two was what they embraced as a youth culture. Modernists embraced change and welcomed the new whereas the rockers were very traditional and didn't particularly like change. Each subculture accumulated rivalry of each other, each set in their own ways. A major point to state within talking about these two groups is that at no point was there any politics involved, it was merely through the idea of tribalism that they fought. Each youth culture thought of themselves as a tribe, as a unified subculture that joined together and rivalled opposing tribes, in this case either if a mod the rockers and if a rocker, the mods. .
Appearance-wise the two youth subcultures were incredibly different. There was a fashion aspect in both of the subcultures, this meant if to relate to other members of the group meant having the "right" clothes to wear. Mods were well-dressed and very fashion conscious. A great deal of the British mod fashion came across from France where there was a big mod movement in the early 60's. As in the sense of the word, modernist, these subcultures revolved around the new and change from the old which predominantly was what the average rocker liked-sticking with the old.
This era was the start up of French boutiques within Britain, which came over from France with the mod movement. Before these boutiques opened in towns and cities, clothes were bought from department stores such as Marks and Spencers. When these boutiques were opened mods couldn't believe that there was a shop that catered only for the young. The first boutique opened in Nottingham during the 60's was a shop called The BirdCage selling clothes only for the young. As fashions changed, mods went with these changes; they were definitely followers of the latest fashion. They bought the new clothes and the new music and because of these changes being a mod proved expensive.