It’s summertime, which means people are heading out to the beach in their sandals and sunglasses to enjoy a day of relaxing in the sun. Over the weekend a few friends and I headed out to the beach to enjoy a day off, but the first conversation that came up was related to marketing.

A friend of mine was sporting her new pair of Oakley sunglasses that she bought for $200, prompted by an ad for them in one of her favorite magazines. Oakley always came across to me as a brand geared toward men. Most of my friends grab their Oakleys when they are about to hit the ski slopes or go out on the water for a long day off fishing. But now Oakley is marketing to women with ads featuring females who embrace the active lifestyle, much like the ads we’ve seen from sportswear giants like Nike, Under Armour, and Reebok fpr years.

Oakley is currently in an aggressive marketing campaign to make the brand more female friendly, but only to certain kinds of females. (Notice the socializing girls in the back.)

Only 10% of the company’s revenue comes from female customers, so it’s understandable that they’d want to gain female market share.

Oakley remains a pioneer in the sunglasses and goggles market. And while they have made mistakes in how they market to women in the past, they are taking a new, smarter approach in 2013.

Nike, which has become well-known for its female-targeted branding efforts, has set the bar for marketing to women. The people at Oakley have their work cut out for them, but their reputation and product quality will hopefully carry them over the gender divide and gradually take that 10% ever upward.

Whether or not it will be active females who buy into the brand remains to be seen. My friend wore hers Oakleys while lounging on the beach. But if the goal is simply to grow sales among women, that may not matter in the end.