New Delhi, Oct 7 (IANS) For the first time in its 10-year history, the premier Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week (WIFW) that focuses strongly on promoting business-to-business contacts will have as many as 10 commercial partners, 79 designers, 53 models and 36 shows as the event gets bigger and better with each passing year.”For the first time, WIFW has will have 10 commercial partners coming together to be a part of this five-day extravaganza that is surely getting bigger and better with each passing day,” Fashion Council Design of India (FDCI) president Sunil Sethi said at a press conference here Tuesday ahead of the Oct 15-19 event.

“With each passing edition, the confidence and trust of our partners has grown as we move towards our primary agenda of promoting the business of fashion,” he added.

The collections will be showcased in three categories: contemporary, synthesis/heritage and curator.

Other than the main sponsor Wills Lifestyle, the other brands associated with the event this time around are Fiama Di Wills, Hewlett Packard, Chivas, Audi, Elle, NDTV Good Times, Big FM, The Park and Yahoo.

Speaking on the occasion, ITC Lifestyle retailing divisional chief executive Atul Chand said: “There is beautiful synergy between the organizers and us and due to this, WIFW is scaling new heights edition after edition.”

“The kind of participation we are seeing from all other commercial partners just makes one thing clear that the event has grown from strength to strength,” he added.

Also, IT major Hewlett Packard - in its second edition of sponsorship - is bringing international designer Vivienne Tam, who has designed HP’s special edition notebooks.

“Our association with the fashion week is a perfect blend of technology meeting style. To prove this, we have international designer Tam showcasing our latest edition of notebooks that are exclusively designed by her,” HP’s head of consumer marketing Shubhodip Pal said.

International automobile maker Audi too is a major partner for the event and according to Audi India’s head of marketing Martin Birkner, the style and impeccable designs of the cars go well with the fashion week.

“Audi has a strong connection and competence in style and design worldwide. Our association with the fashion week gives us a platform to blend luxury with fashion,” he said.

“We are hopeful of putting up a good show together and you will surely see the synergy,” Birkner added.

Being a business-to-business affair, buyers play an important role at the fashion week.

“Though the official list is not yet out but as per confirmations from buyers, there will be quite a few of them around,” Sethi said.

“The best part is that we will see three buyers from Britain’s leading fashion house Liberty Fashion. This has never happened before at any fashion week in India,” he added.