Salesman cutting this French material (5)
I believe the answer is:
crepe
'material' is the definition.
(crepe is a kind of material)
'salesman cutting this french' is the wordplay.
'salesman' becomes 'rep' (I've seen this before).
'cutting' means one lot of letters goes inside another (some letters cut their way into a word).
'this french' becomes 'ce' (I've seen this in other clues).
'rep' placed inside 'ce' is 'CREPE'.
(Other definitions for crepe that I've seen before include "French dish" , "Crinkly material" , "Crinkled fabric - black armband - thin pancake" , "Pancake - type of paper" , "Fabric with a wrinkled surface" .)