Would-be dry people holding clothing for sacred works (6)
I believe the answer is:
avesta
'sacred works' is the definition.
(sacred texts in Zoroastrianism)
'would-be dry people holding clothing' is the wordplay.
'would-be dry people' becomes 'aa' (Alcoholics Anonymous, people who want to be 'dry').
'holding' indicates putting letters inside.
'clothing' becomes 'vest' (vest is a kind of clothing**).
'aa' going around 'vest' is 'AVESTA'.
'for' is the link.
(Other definitions for avesta that I've seen before include "collection of sacred writings" , "holy text" , "Zoroastrian scriptures" , "sacred text" , "Parsee scriptures" .)