Filling a vacancy in the clothing department (7)
I believe the answer is:
darning
'filling' is the definition.
The answer and definition can be both acts as well as being singular nouns.
Maybe you can see an association between them that I don't see?
'a vacancy in the clothing department' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'a' is present in the answer.
'in' is found in the answer.
This may be the basis of clue (or it may be nonsense).
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for darning that I've seen before include "Repairing a woollen garment" , "Mending a hole, in a sock say" .)