The development of deformation texture in ferrite has been measured in cold rolled IF steel. This has been compared, in a quantitative way, to the predictions of Taylor models-including those with relaxed constraints-and a finite element model with crystal plasticity constitutive laws. The finite element model gave much better prediction of the overall levels of orientation density but failed to predict the relatively high level of {001} texture which occurred at strains greater than about unity. That feature was predicted by relaxed constraint Taylor models. It is argued that that prediction is a coincidence, and either the finite element model cannot readily deal with the intragranular inhomogeneity of deformation in an adequate way, or that factors such as high-angle boundary migration may be important in the development of deformation texture. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved. ; Times Cited: 13