diff --git a/django/contrib/staticfiles/management/commands/collectstatic.py b/django/contrib/staticfiles/management/commands/collectstatic.py
index 60c4e7cd6d..2170647433 100644
--- a/django/contrib/staticfiles/management/commands/collectstatic.py
+++ b/django/contrib/staticfiles/management/commands/collectstatic.py
@@ -221,12 +221,16 @@ class Command(BaseCommand):
                          smart_text(fpath), level=1)
             else:
                 self.log("Deleting '%s'" % smart_text(fpath), level=1)
-                full_path = self.storage.path(fpath)
-                if not os.path.exists(full_path) and os.path.lexists(full_path):
-                    # Delete broken symlinks
-                    os.unlink(full_path)
-                else:
+                try:
+                    full_path = self.storage.path(fpath)
+                except NotImplementedError:
                     self.storage.delete(fpath)
+                else:
+                    if not os.path.exists(full_path) and os.path.lexists(full_path):
+                        # Delete broken symlinks
+                        os.unlink(full_path)
+                    else:
+                        self.storage.delete(fpath)
         for d in dirs:
             self.clear_dir(os.path.join(path, d))
 
diff --git a/docs/releases/1.9.5.txt b/docs/releases/1.9.5.txt
index d74a2d9abe..98dd1799a8 100644
--- a/docs/releases/1.9.5.txt
+++ b/docs/releases/1.9.5.txt
@@ -27,3 +27,6 @@ Bugfixes
   earlier versions of Django.
 
 * Fixed a memory leak in the cached template loader (:ticket:`26306`).
+
+* Fixed a regression that caused ``collectstatic --clear`` to fail if the
+  storage doesn't implement ``path()`` (:ticket:`26297`).
diff --git a/tests/staticfiles_tests/storage.py b/tests/staticfiles_tests/storage.py
index 3e972552f2..06caebfcd2 100644
--- a/tests/staticfiles_tests/storage.py
+++ b/tests/staticfiles_tests/storage.py
@@ -1,5 +1,8 @@
+import errno
+import os
 from datetime import datetime
 
+from django.conf import settings
 from django.contrib.staticfiles.storage import CachedStaticFilesStorage
 from django.core.files import storage
 from django.utils import timezone
@@ -22,6 +25,40 @@ class DummyStorage(storage.Storage):
         return datetime.datetime(1970, 1, 1, tzinfo=timezone.utc)
 
 
+class PathNotImplementedStorage(storage.Storage):
+
+    def _save(self, name, content):
+        return 'dummy'
+
+    def _path(self, name):
+        return os.path.join(settings.STATIC_ROOT, name)
+
+    def exists(self, name):
+        return os.path.exists(self._path(name))
+
+    def listdir(self, path):
+        path = self._path(path)
+        directories, files = [], []
+        for entry in os.listdir(path):
+            if os.path.isdir(os.path.join(path, entry)):
+                directories.append(entry)
+            else:
+                files.append(entry)
+        return directories, files
+
+    def delete(self, name):
+        name = self._path(name)
+        if os.path.exists(name):
+            try:
+                os.remove(name)
+            except OSError as e:
+                if e.errno != errno.ENOENT:
+                    raise
+
+    def path(self, name):
+        raise NotImplementedError
+
+
 class SimpleCachedStaticFilesStorage(CachedStaticFilesStorage):
 
     def file_hash(self, name, content=None):
diff --git a/tests/staticfiles_tests/test_management.py b/tests/staticfiles_tests/test_management.py
index 4700977666..fa47f12b49 100644
--- a/tests/staticfiles_tests/test_management.py
+++ b/tests/staticfiles_tests/test_management.py
@@ -170,6 +170,11 @@ class TestCollectionClear(CollectionTestCase):
         shutil.rmtree(six.text_type(settings.STATIC_ROOT))
         super(TestCollectionClear, self).run_collectstatic(clear=True)
 
+    @override_settings(STATICFILES_STORAGE='staticfiles_tests.storage.PathNotImplementedStorage')
+    def test_handle_path_notimplemented(self):
+        self.run_collectstatic()
+        self.assertFileNotFound('cleared.txt')
+
 
 class TestCollectionExcludeNoDefaultIgnore(CollectionTestCase, TestDefaults):
     """