Baggy clothes for girls were replaced by tight body-hugging outfits made of materials such as lycra emphasising appearance rather than comfort and practicality. This shows that ravers are not always identifiable by their clothes. Brands names like Naf Naf and Kangol soon became high street brand names. It is difficult to define the common experiences that lead people to go to raves. It could be that many youths wanted a form of escapism to get away from the norms of every day life or problems like unemployment.
Ravers appear to cut across all social divisions, classes, gender and age.
Unlike the 60s bikers, ravers are not exclusive to the working class, the unemployed or dominated by male members. It is difficult to make analogies between the common experiences of an eighteen year old student and a thirty year old computer analyst both attending raves on a Saturday night. According to Pendry, the concept of masculinity is missing . Unlike bikers, ravers are not menacing, aggressive or heavy drinkers. Rave culture is not gang culture like many other subcultures.