08/11/2025
“One of this year’s entrants, Doogie Sandtiger, holds the record for the largest collection of Crocs. Raised in the U.S. foster care system without family, possessions, or a confirmed birthday, Sandtiger spent much of his childhood with nothing that was truly his own. The first pair of Crocs he noticed—lavender, worn by a neighbour gardening—and went on to buy was, in his words, “the first thing I had ever chosen myself.” Their slip-on design mattered more than style, having never been taught to tie his shoelaces. Today, Sandtiger’s house is lined floor to ceiling with 3,929 pairs. Some are encrusted with Jibbitz—the decorative charms designed to plug into the shoe’s holes—of which he owns more than 15,000 (he suspects he may hold the world record for these, too). The rarest pair, he says, is a Balenciaga collaboration: black platform clogs nearly four inches high. “My original goal was 366 pairs—one for every day of the year,” he explains. “When I hit that, the psychological attachment started. I began to associate them with growth, change, development—breaking out of that mindset of a homeless kid with nothing. Now I have property, a name, a life. It gave me purpose.” He is frank about his motivation: “Honestly, it’s psychological. I was always made to feel less human as a kid. At first, it was about spite—I wanted to prove I was good enough. The collection made me feel human,” he says.”
Annabel Downes () enters the curious world of collectors — from dentists hoarding celebrity molars to a man who’s built a life around 3,000 pairs of foam clogs — to understand what really fuels their compulsion.
