Book excerpt: The colour forecasting process is a major driving force in the fashion and textile industries but is complex, highly intuitive and little understood. This textbook for students of fashion and design discusses the development of the various driving forces of fashion, when colour forecasting began and how it has developed to its present day state. Colour terminology and some of the more subjective tools used by colour forecasters are explained, and their strengths and weaknesses are compared. Also, a model is given of the colour forecasting process and this is discussed in detail. Finally, readers are shown how forecasting methodologies are used to develop 'colour stories'.