The solidification behaviour of an austenitic and ferritic stainless steel (similar to1mm gauge) strips were studied using a melt/substrate contacting apparatus. The effect of alloy type and casting conditions (substrate topography and melt superheat) on the development of microstructure and texture during solidification was studied using EBSD and optical microscopy. The steels solidified to produce either a ferritic or austenitic matrix with a distribution of one or more second phases. Randomly-oriented grains nucleated at the chill surface and further solidification resulted in the preferred growth of <001>-oriented grains perpendicular to the substrate wall to produce a coarse columnar grain structure and a strengthening of the <001> fibre texture. Regardless of alloy and casting conditions, there was a natural tendency for both steels to develop this fibre texture; a texture component detrimental to sheet formability. The results indicate that secondary processing may be necessary to produce more formable stainless steel sheet by strip casting.