Material taken from meadow by the ringleader (7)
I believe the answer is:
leather
'material' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'meadow by the ringleader' is the wordplay.
'meadow' becomes 'lea' (a lea is a grassy area).
'by' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'ringleader' becomes 'r' (first letter of ring).
'lea'+'the'+'r'='LEATHER'
'taken from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for leather that I've seen before include "polish" , "Tanned animal hide" , "Dressed skin" , "Animal skins" , "Whip" .)