I’m the ‘Croc king’ with more than 2K pairs — hoping for world record

A man in Connecticut believes he holds the world record for having the largest collection of Crocs.

Doogie Lish Sandtiger, 32, has collected the iconic rubber shoes since he was 16 years old, spending thousands of dollars to amass 2,131 pairs of Crocs.

“There’s so many things I could say about them: they’re so stylish, they’re fun, they’re comfortable and to me, it’s always like each pair is an empty canvas,” the self-proclaimed “Croc king” told CT Insider recently.

“Each [pair] has its own personality [and] individuality,” said Sandtiger, who hoped to impress the folks at Guinness World Records with his assemblage one day.

“Whether you love Crocs or you hate Crocs, it still catches people’s eye and gets their attention,” the West Hartford resident added.

“I’ve converted a lot of Crocs haters over the years.” 

Growing up in foster care, Sandtiger never learned how to tie his shoes, so even though he first thought that Crocs “were really ugly and silly,” he was enticed by the slip-on ease of the footwear.

“By the time I was in high school, it’s kind of embarrassing to talk to your peers and the people around you like, ‘Hey, do you want to teach me how to tie my shoes?’ So that’s where Crocs came into the picture,” he said. 

Sandtiger was also a shy, quiet kid but credits the wild and funky shoes with helping him to embrace the more outgoing parts of his personality.

“It’s weird to say that a pair of footwear or clogs gave me confidence but it kind of did,” he confessed. “It helped me break out of my shell.” 

The intense collector has thousands of unique shoes, including fried chicken-scented KFC Crocs, limited edition Peanuts Crocs and a pair designed by artist Left Hand LA.

Sandtiger wears several pairs a day to make use of most, but some of the Crocs are too novel to wear; instead, he uses them as decor around his house.

“Some of them are designed strictly as art pieces, especially with large Jibbitz on them and they’re not meant to be worn,” he said.

“They’re meant to be admired, honored, loved, appreciated. A lot of people won’t understand that, but it’s not so different than you going to a Hobby Lobby or any place that has decor and you buy a nice little statue to put on your mantle.”

Sandtiger first applied to Guinness World Records when he bought his 700th pair of Crocs but was told to reapply when he got this 1,000th pair.

He’s far surpassed that number but hasn’t yet reapplied to Guinness, which The Post has contacted for comment.

Utilizing his large collection and Croc knowledge, Sandtiger hopes to open a “Crocseum” one day to display not only the history of the famed footwear but also part of his acquisitions and some Crocs swag.

“I do want to eventually show off my Crocs collection to the world — it’s just meant so much to me and it’s gotten so big,” he said.

“I just want to share that love with everybody.”