Items in the Alternate line are made, finished and fired in the exact same way as the Regular line.  Because of the hand-made nature of the products and the purity of the raw material (no extenders, additives or contaminants used to control the finished product), some pieces come out with surface imperfections.  Miriam's Quality Control team inspects each piece to make sure these items are functional regardless of the imperfections before they can qualify for shipping. Here are some examples; you can see here how these imperfections are not overtly visible but are noticeable upon closer inspection. The Alternate Line items are not "weaker" than the Regular Laine, the thing that differentiates them are these natural imperfections. These items come with the same warranty as the regular line:

The MEC Small Pan (1.25 qt):

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The MEC Medium Pot (2.5 qt):

  The last image shows a hairline crack. In most cases these hairlines will "close-up" with use, as the pot and lid shrink ever-so-slightly after seasoning and a few uses.

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The MEC X-large Pot (6qt pot):

  Here is another example of an imperfection, despite this lid mis-fit the pot will retain steam better than other cookware because of reasons explained here: MEC Steam management properties explained. However, if there is too much steam locked inside, some might escape the pot more than the Regular line items. Go back to Alternate Line Products page.