Material is mined, perhaps (5)
I believe the answer is:
denim
'material' is the definition.
(type of fabric)
'mined perhaps' is the wordplay.
'perhaps' indicates an anagram.
'mined' with letters rearranged gives 'DENIM'.
'is' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for denim that I've seen before include "Hard-wearing cloth" , "Coarse durable twill-weave cotton fabric" , "Cotton twill fabric" , "Mined badly for a hard-wearing fabric" , "Cloth for jeans, etc" .)