Leader in Paisley put down tartan cloth (5)
I believe the answer is:
plaid
'tartan cloth' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'leader in paisley put down' is the wordplay.
'leader in' says to take the initial letters.
'put down' becomes 'laid' (to lay something is to put it down somewhere).
The initial letter of 'paisley' is 'p'.
'p'+'laid'='PLAID'
(Other definitions for plaid that I've seen before include "party in Wales" , "Tartan-pattern cloth" , "woollen cloth" , "Tartan twilled cloth" , "Part of Scots dress or Welsh party" .)