Representative laundry item? One should get it mended (8)
I believe the answer is:
repairer
'item? one should get it mended' is the definition.
I can't tell whether this defines the answer.
'representative laundry' is the wordplay.
'representative' becomes 'rep' (rep is a kind of representative).
'laundry' becomes 'airer' (I can't justify this - if you can you should give a lot more credence to this answer).
'rep'+'airer'='REPAIRER'
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for repairer that I've seen before include "One having recourse" , "One who mends" , "Mender, restorer" , "healer" , "One who mends/fixes" .)